Swarming flies go on killing spree
More than 300 cows, horses, sheep and pigs were bitten to death over the weekend by swarming flies in eastern Latvia, the Agriculture Ministry said today.
Warm temperatures after an unusually cold, damp spring created ideal conditions for the massive swarms of flies to attack grazing animals in Latgale, one of the European Union’s poorest regions, said Viktors Grapmanis, the head of the ministry’s food and veterinary department.
Over the weekend, the flies killed at least 324 farm animals, mostly cows grazing in fields, but also horses, sheep and pigs, Grapmanis said.
“The number of dead is likely to rise. The flies are biting livestock in great numbers, causing fever, swelling and eventual suffocation,” he said.
Agriculture Minister Martins Roze cancelled a trip to Brussels on Monday to deal with the problem.
Latvia has contacted officials in neighbouring Lithuania and Belarus, but has not yet heard if they experienced similar problems.
Damages could amount to tens of thousands of euros, Silvija Dreijere, a Farmers’ Association official in the Praeli district – one of the worst-hit areas – told the state news agency, LETA.
About 15% of Latvia’s 2.3 million residents are farmers. An animal’s premature death can mean significant loss to small farmers in Latvia, one of the EU’s poorest countries.
