Flesh-eating screwworm found in Texas calf

Impact on Livestock and Economy

NWS is a serious pest that affects livestock, pets, wildlife, and less commonly, people and birds. NWS larvae (maggots) burrow into the flesh of living animals, causing serious damage to livestock and economic losses.

The USDA is led by U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins. On May 11, 2025, she announced the suspension of live cattle, horse and bison imports through U.S. ports of entry along the southern border due to the continued and rapid northward spread of NWS in Mexico.

Response Efforts

The USDA announced that an APHIS strike team is already on-site in Texas. The agency said it has mounted a rapid, efficient response that involves releasing sterile male flies and establishing a movement control zone to quarantine livestock.

Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller has been critical of the USDA’s response to the new NWS outbreak. Miller said he personally provided research and the SWASS bait formula to Rollins and her team on three separate occasions while the screwworm continued its northward trek to Texas.

Miller asked President Trump to take control of the NWS response, saying, “Cut through the bureaucracy, deploy SWASS immediately and throw every available federal resource at this threat before it becomes a full-blown agricultural disaster.”

Texas Land Commissioner Dawn Buckingham, M.D., oversees more than 13 million acres of state land, including roughly three-quarters of a million acres of grazing and hunting leases managed by the Texas General Land Office. Her office sent a letter to Rollins and Texas governor Greg Abbott offering full access to the lands to support the government’s response to the active, escalating threat of the New World Screwworm.

Original reporting: Fox News (HLL/CB) — read the source article.