Texas ranchers brace for possible screwworm threat
SAN ANGELO, Texas (Concho Valley Homepage) — On ranches in South Texas, the mood is tense as word is reaching ranchers about the spreading of New World Screwworms. These are flesh-eating parasites that target warm-blooded animals. While there are no reports of screwworms having crossed the border into Texas, many are recalling a procedure of using sterile male screwworm flies that eradicated this problem in the U.S. several decades ago.
'Screwworms have been in the United States before, back in the 50s, 60s and 70s. We controlled those outbreaks at those times with sterile male screwworm flies,' Charlie Christenson at Producers Livestock Auction said.
Christenson said the way to get ahead of these screwworms spreading into Texas is by having the means to produce these sterile flies. He says the effects of screwworm infestations on animals can be dire.
'They leave larvae on an open wound on an animal, and that larvae turns into a screwworm that basically feeds on living flesh, which is the difference between it and a maggot,' Christenson said.
Knowing that screwworms could cross from Mexico into Texas, Texas Representative Tony Gonzales in Washington, D.C. created legislation called the 'STOP Screwworms Act' to allocate funding to create the exact facility needed to produce sterile flies.
'It's very much focused on creating a facility that will sterilize these flies to stop the spreading of screwworms…we have to stop relying on foreign countries to do our work and to me it makes a whole lot of sense if this facility is right here in Texas…right here in the United States.'
Christenson said he is hopeful for this new legislation because those with cattle are not the only ones who can be impacted by screwworms.
'It makes cattleman and sheep people…everybody that has wildlife…the deer people are nervous about it because of the open wound,' Christenson said.
USDA officials are monitoring the border as we await action from this new piece of legislation.
For now, these ranchers say they'll stay alert and hope this sterile fly facility comes before the screwworms do.
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