Opining that mosquitoes suck human blood to obtain protein for their eggs, French animal-rights activist said that “people should not kill mosquitoes but rather allow them to take “blood donations” as they are nourishing their children,” said an article in Dunya News.
French television presenter Aymeric Caron said it is “embarrassing for anti-specists [sic] who realize they are being attacked by a mother trying to nourish her future children.”
While Caron self-identifies as one who opposes discrimination against any species, British animal rights activists said his comments went a bit too far and were distracting.
Really? That is an astute observation.
Mr. Caron, who apparently fancies himself an expert on human-mosquito conflict, said that animal lovers should allow the insects to bite, except in Africa where the blood donors would risk catching malaria.
“One can consider that a blood donation from time to time to an insect who is only trying to nourish her children is not a drama,” Mr Caron said in a video. “A female mosquito really has no choice but to risk her life for her babies, he said.
In a confusing twist of logic, the mosquito-rights activist then said that, to avoid being bitten, it was best to use natural mosquito repellents such as citronella, lavender oil or garlic, and to wash regularly and to avoid using perfumes. Wasn’t Caron’s argument that one should be a blood donor and not deny the poor mama mosquito nourishment for her children?
For those who are considering joining Mr. Caron in providing blood donations to the mosquito, consider this. Aside from the obvious, Caron only addresses the possibility of contracting malaria if bitten by an African mosquito. He fails to mention the following mosquito-borne diseases according to Wikipedia:
dengue, West Nile virus, chikungunya, yellow fever,[1]filariasis, tularemia, dirofilariasis, Japanese encephalitis, Saint Louis encephalitis, Western equine encephalitis, Eastern equine encephalitis,[2] Venezuelan equine encephalitis, Ross River fever, Barmah Forest fever, La Crosse encephalitis, and Zika fever,[2] as well as newly detected Keystone virus and Rift Valley fever.
The diseases are not exclusive to Africa.
World Health Organization Website says “Mosquitoes are one of the deadliest animals in the world. Their ability to carry and spread disease to humans causes millions of deaths every year. In 2015 malaria alone caused 438,000 deaths. The worldwide incidence of dengue has risen 30-fold in the past 30 years and more countries are reporting their first outbreaks of the disease. Zika, dengue, chikungunya, and yellow fever are all transmitted to humans by the Aedes aegypti mosquito. More than half of the world’s population live in areas where this mosquito species is present. Sustained mosquito control efforts are important to prevent outbreaks from these diseases. There are several different types of mosquitoes and some have the ability to carry many different diseases.
Maybe Mr. Caron should stick to TV presenting and stay away from absurd recommendations that can potentially kill people.
