Latest news with #ranchers
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Science
- Yahoo
Flesh-Eating 'Screwworm' Parasites Are Headed to the U.S.
Officials in nine countries are trying to get a handle on the New World screwworm, a fly whose larvae eat the living flesh of livestock. The pest is marching northward at an alarming rate and has now moved some 1,400 miles from southern Panama to southern Mexico in about two years. Screwworms are disastrous for ranchers, whose cattle can become infected when the flies lay eggs in cuts or wounds, after which their resulting larvae burrow, or screw, into that flesh. The northernmost sighting is currently about 700 miles south of the U.S. border. Since the insect breached biological containment in Panama's province of Darién in 2023, it has moved through Central America and is now found as far north as the Mexican state of Oaxaca. Thousands of animals have been infected, and officials have reported dozens of human cases in Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras and Mexico this year. [Sign up for Today in Science, a free daily newsletter] As the fly spreads northward from the narrow Darién Gap in Panama and up the funnel of Central America, it becomes harder to control. Agricultural departments suppress fly populations by releasing millions of sterile male flies per week into the environment throughout Central America. These males are raised in a facility in Panama jointly run by that country's agricultural department and the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Because female screwworms mate only once in their lifetime, this population of infertile males reduces the size of the next generation of flies. Consistent application of this sterile insect technique eradicated the screwworm from the U.S. in 1966 and from regions north of the Darién Gap in 2006. That invisible wall holding the screwworm back has crumbled, however. 'I don't know how it got away so quickly,' says Maxwell Scott, an entomologist at North Carolina State University, who studies genetic methods to control populations of the fly. 'There had to be some movement of infested livestock, particularly through the middle [of Central America].... It just moved too fast,' Scott says about the swift speed of the screwworm spread. On their own, the flies can usually fly no more than about 12 miles in their monthlong lifetime, says Sonja Swiger, an entomologist at Texas A&M University. But the screwworm larvae can travel great distances while developing inside (and gnawing on the flesh of) their hosts. A new generation reaches sexual maturity every week to two weeks, and females can lay up to 2,800 eggs over the course of their lifespan, according to the California Department of Food & Agriculture. Most people aren't at risk of screwworm infections, which are rare compared with those in livestock. But cases have appeared in Central America since the breach of the Darién Gap. Nicaragua first detected the parasite in livestock in March 2024; by February 2025, health officials there confirmed 30 human cases. Costa Rica saw 42 confirmed cases between January and May 2025 and at least two deaths, according to the country's health ministry. Honduras has reported 40 human cases and three deaths, according to the public health network EpiCore, while Guatemala reported its first human case in May. The Mexican Ministry of Health has confirmed eight human cases. In humans, infection with fly larvae is known as myiasis. Those who are most at risk for screwworm myiasis are people who work closely with livestock or who sleep outdoors. Treatment involves removing the larvae, sometimes with surgery. Screwworms haven't made it back into the U.S. yet. How quickly this might happen depends on whether agricultural officials can hold the line in Mexico or push the fly southward. On May 27 U.S. Department of Agriculture officials announced $21 million in funding to retrofit a fruit fly production plant in Metapa, Mexico, to produce sterile screwworm flies. When operational, the plant will churn out between 60 million and 100 million additional flies a week to help suppress the breeding population in Mexico. While the sterile insect technique is likely to remain the key tool in the arsenal against screwworms for years to come, new genetic methods of insect control could eventually come to bear against the problem. In May ethicists and entomologists, including Scott, wrote in a paper in Science that the screwworm is a good candidate for complete elimination with gene drive technology, which involves genetic engineering to ensure that a deadly mutation will be included in an animal's sperm and egg cells and thus will be passed on to the next generation. The loss of screwworms does not seem to substantially affect the ecosystem, the researchers wrote, and death by the insect is painful and slow. 'The extent of the public health threat posed by screwworm is not certain, but any flesh-eating insect that caused occasional human mortality in the Global North would almost certainly be marked for suppression if not eradication,' the researchers wrote. Thus far, these genetic techniques have largely been explored to target malaria-carrying mosquitoes, though scientists at the Pasteur Institute of Montevideo in Uruguay are now working to develop a gene drive strain for the screwworm, Scott says. It will take time to make progress, but if the researchers succeed, the resulting mutant could spell the end of the screwworm not just in North and Central America but in South America, too. 'This is a very rapidly developing field,' Scott says.
Yahoo
01-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
New Mexico cattle industry prepares and cattle imports paused as screwworm travels north
Jun. 1—A small, pale maggot about a half-inch long could cost New Mexico cattle ranchers greatly if it gets back into the country. One of the state's senators introduced new legislation to combat the New World screwworm fly, which has recently spread across Central America toward the U.S. At the U.S.-Mexico crossing in Santa Teresa, the pens supporting the nation's largest livestock entry point sat empty and eerily quiet Friday, with workers performing maintenance projects and catching up on paperwork at facilities normally bustling with thousands of cattle passing through daily. The U.S. Department of Agriculture closed the border to livestock imports after the screwworm was detected in the southern Mexico state of Chiapas in November. Imports resumed in February once the two countries established protocols for inspection and treatment. However, when screwworm was detected in Oaxaca and Veracruz, just 700 miles from the U.S., the USDA closed the border to imports once again on May 11. Unlike typical maggots, which feed on the dead, screwworm larvae feast on the living, meaning the fly larvae can do significant damage to cattle, even causing death. While New World screwworms overwhelmingly affect cattle, any warm-blooded animal can be susceptible to infestation, including livestock, pets, wild animals and people. The U.S. eradicated the parasites in 1966 and has worked with the Panama government to keep screwworms there in check, maintaining a buffer zone of several countries between U.S. ranches and the insects. But the New World screwworm population in Panama exploded in 2023, and last year's infestation in Chiapas prompted the U.S. to release $165 million in emergency funding to protect livestock, pets and wildlife. Some experts see a new U.S. infestation as inevitable. "It's not an 'if we're going to see it;' it's a 'when we're going to see it,'" said Bronson Corn, president of the New Mexico Cattle Growers' Association. "And unfortunately, I think we're going to see it sooner, much rather than later. Probably within the next three months, I would say, we're probably going to have it here in the United States." New Mexico has more than 10,000 cattle farms and ranches. The U.S. livestock industry benefits by more than $900 million a year because there aren't screwworms in the country, USDA estimates. Dr. Samantha Holeck, state veterinarian with the New Mexico Livestock Board, is preparing for the worst and hoping for the best by working to educate livestock producers on the New World screwworm and developing protocols for sample collection to make sure flies can be rapidly identified. "The challenge is, we've got very warm weather. The flies are able to move on their own, as well as with animal movement and things like wildlife that are going to move independently. We don't have control over how wildlife move. There are risk factors that still make it an imminent threat to the United States, even with a lot of good preventive strategies and surveillance in place," Holeck said. In the 1960s, New Mexico's livestock industry was heavily affected by the screwworm, she said. "A lot of our common management practices, even ear tagging potentially, can put an animal at risk, because any sort of fresh wound as small as a tick bite for example, can attract those female flies to lay eggs," Holeck said. "So once they have an opportunity to lay eggs in, those larvae begin to burrow in, because the larvae feed on live, healthy flesh." Left untreated, screwworms can cause traumatic injuries, are able to enlarge a wound and capable of even eating through bone. An untreated screwworm infestation could kill an animal within one to two weeks. Treatment with a dewormer like ivermectin can clear an infestation in a cow within two to three days. Livestock producers can usually identify an infestation by observing a rapidly expanding wound, signs of distress or pain in their animal, or by the foul smell of the wound. If screwworms are identified in New Mexico, the infested livestock will be thoroughly inspected and treated, Holeck said. They also won't be transported until free of screwworm larvae. Fly sterilization Female screwworms only mate once, so the strategy for managing the screwworm population has long been to produce sterile male screwworms and then release them into the wild. But, when the screwworm population was eradicated in the U.S., the country was producing sterile flies to release across a broad area. At present, the only sterilization facility is in Panama and is capable of producing hundreds of millions of sterile flies in a week. "If that facility were to go down, we'd be in a real big wreck," Holeck said. On Tuesday, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins announced that the USDA is investing $21 million to renovate an existing fruit fly production facility in Mexico to produce 60 to 100 million additional sterile New World screwworm flies weekly. Sens. Ben Ray Luján, D-N.M., and John Cornyn, R-Texas, introduced a bill to authorize money for a new sterile fly production facility in the U.S. to combat the growing screwworm outbreak. The STOP Screwworms Act is cosponsored by Martin Heinrich, D-N.M., Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Cindy Hyde-Smith, R-Miss. With bipartisan support, Luján is hopeful the bill will move quickly through Congress because of the urgent situation. "The last time that there was an outbreak, it devastated the cattle industry, beef prices and availability in the United States," Luján said. "This little thing is quite devastating." At the border, empty cattle pens The orange theater-style seating at the Santa Teresa Livestock Auction was empty Friday. Hay and feed were neatly piled and only a few head of cattle were penned together. General Manager Hector Alberto "Teto" Medina estimated that the pause on imports will affect producers in Mexico, who exported over $1 billion in livestock to the U.S. in 2024, but would have ripple effects throughout the U.S. food system and related business sectors — down to what consumers pay for groceries or dining out. "This is the hardest we've ever been hit on the U.S.-Mexico border," he said. "We're talking about employment for farmers that feed these cattle, ranchers, transportation companies, brokerage companies, federal workers, feedlots, processors, for plants that process the cattle into meat — all the way down to restaurants and all the way down to our plates." So far, he said he had no plans to lay off any of his staff, and was upbeat about a solution. "What's being done at the USDA is the correct thing to do," he said. "They are ensuring that our food supply is safe and clean. ... I wish it didn't have to affect us as much, but that's the way life is sometimes."
Yahoo
27-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
New Mexico high school creates pre-veterinary program to encourage students to join industry
EDGEWOOD, N.M. (KRQE) – New Mexico's farmers and ranchers are facing a problem with not enough veterinarians to take care of their livestock. Now, a local high school is stepping in, with a program aimed at getting students excited about veterinary careers. 'From the time that I started, until now, I'm seeing probably four times the amount of appointments per day as we used to,' said Crystal Clark, associate veterinarian at Western Trails Veterinary Hospital. Body of airman recovered at Elephant Butte Lake, Kirtland Air Force Base says Western Trails Veterinary Hospital in Edgewood cares for animals of all sizes, from cats and dogs to horses and cattle. Staff there see the impacts of the state's veterinarian shortage firsthand. 'The biggest issue facing the future of large animal veterinarians is getting people who want to live in small communities. Who want to live in rural areas because that's where the need is,' Clark explained. The lack of large animal veterinarians is a concern for ranchers across the state. 'We need large animal vets. We are at a huge disadvantage in the state to be able to work our livestock,' said Bronson Corn, president of the New Mexico Cattle Growers' Association. Help is on the way thanks to a program aimed at preparing the next generation of Valley Public Schools has created a pre-veterinary program for juniors and seniors. Their high school already had a veterinary science class, but as part of the new program, a working veterinarian will come to teach students in a clinic setting. 'For them to go in and do the hands-on stuff definitely helps them learn a lot more, just because they get to take the stuff that they learn in class and apply it to actual work,' said Rian Nials, agriculture educator and FFA advisor at Hatch Valley High School. Tyson Shiflett, a junior, said he is excited about how the program will prepare him for a career in agriculture. 'I'll be using it as a work-study class. I'll be able to make money from the school as well as help the vets clean the animals, groom them, and get them on scales and stuff like that,' said Shiflett. Local vets said they are looking forward to seeing new talent in the industry. 'That's a great idea—to start them young and get their interest cultivated,' said Clark. The program is paid for in part by funding from the legislature. Lawmakers also passed a bill this year, allowing veterinary students focused on large animals to get a percentage of their student loans repaid. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
E&E News
19-05-2025
- Politics
- E&E News
Trump admin faces key Endangered Species Act decisions
The Trump administration's shrunken Fish and Wildlife Service faces three high-profile Endangered Species Act decisions affecting grizzly bears and monarch butterflies as well as the meaning of one key word in the landmark environmental law. All three issues have prompted robust debate in fast-closing public comment periods. What comes next could be some consequential ESA reversals. The Biden administration proposed keeping grizzly bears listed as threatened under the ESA. More than 200,000 individuals weighed in by the end of a comment period last Friday. Many supported continued ESA protections for the iconic species, but ranchers and Western states urged delisting. Advertisement The Biden administration also proposed listing the monarch butterfly as threatened. More than 148,000 individuals and organizations have opined in the comment period that ends at midnight Monday. As with the grizzly bears, many support protecting the monarch, while some rancher organizations and others urge otherwise.
CBC
12-05-2025
- Business
- CBC
High prices a blessing for Manitoba beef producers
Cattle prices have hit record highs in 2025, offering long-awaited financial relief to Manitoba ranchers after years of stagnant returns and rising operational costs.
