The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has announced plans to spend $25 million on a facility in Arizona to disperse sterile flies used to combat the flesh-eating livestock pest New World screwworm. This move is part of the USDA’s efforts to control the spread of screwworms as the agency plans to lift a ban on imports of Mexican cattle that it imposed more than a year ago.
Background on the Screwworm Threat
Screwworms are parasitic flies whose females lay eggs in open wounds and mucous membranes on any warm-blooded animal. Once the eggs hatch, hundreds of screwworm larvae use their sharp mouths to burrow through living flesh, eventually killing their host if left untreated. The pest has moved north through Central America and was detected in June on Texas farms and in New Mexico.
The USDA has said it needs many more sterile flies to push the pest back to the geographic boundary of the Darien Gap, the stretch of rainforest between Panama and Colombia. The agency is constructing a $750 million production plant for sterile flies in Texas.
Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs sent a letter to the USDA proposing a dispersal facility for sterile flies in Douglas, Arizona. The USDA said it planned to resume importing Mexican cattle at a port of entry in Douglas on August 24, and then eventually open two additional ports of entry in New Mexico.
Original reporting: Appleton, WI News Feed (HLL/CB) — read the source article.
