Air Support Called in for Louisiana War on Mosquitoes
This summer is lining up to be really great, especially if you are a mosquito. The temperature is warming up, we've got so much pooling water in the area, and the food! Residents of the Ark-La-Tex are already bearing more skin and getting hot and sweaty outside. It's like a tropical vacation including the all you can eat buffet for those horrible little bloodsuckers! Well, the officials in St. Tammany Parish have had enough of this horde of winged, disease ridden phlebotomists. WTOK reports that the powers that be are calling in air support.
Mosquito Abatement director Kevin Caillouet is launching a "Death from Above," tactic starting the third week of this month with a little help from Mississippi chopper specialists Blackstar Helicopter. While using pesticides to treat standing ditch-water and other easily accessible areas prime for mosquito reproduction is an effective treatment - there are tons of less accessible areas like poorly maintained swimming pools and small stagnant ponds that usually elude city workers. The air-strike, made possible by the private helicopter company, will provide a substantially more effective treatment area.
Personally, I would like to see Barksdale's B-52's carpet the Shreveport / Bossier City area with (safe for human) pesticides. Military training and a mosquito free summer? Yes, please!