First US wildlife case comes amid dozens of detections this year
The US Department of Agriculture said on Wednesday it had confirmed the first detection of the New World screwworm in US wildlife, identifying the parasite in an elk on a game ranch in Pecos County, Texas. The elk was reported after being harvested by a hunter, the USDA said in a statement.
The Texas Animal Health Commission will modify a previously established infested zone in response to the finding, the USDA said.
“We encourage all hunters and landowners to be vigilant for signs of New World screwworm while they are out in the field this season,” Texas wildlife division director Alan Cain said in a statement.
The USDA and the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department are conducting additional wildlife surveillance in the affected area. The USDA and Texas agencies are asking hunters, ranchers and landowners to monitor animals for signs of infestation.
The New World screwworm is a flesh-eating parasite. The pest was eradicated from the United States decades ago, but has surged north from Central America through Mexico in recent years. The northward movement prompted Washington to impose a ban on Mexican cattle imports that lasted more than a year.
The US halted livestock imports from Mexico last year to keep screwworm out of the country, then resumed trade in August at an Arizona port as part of a phased reopening plan, according to the USDA. The Guardian reported that the extended halt in Mexican cattle imports tightened US cattle supplies and pushed beef prices to record highs for American consumers.
Despite those containment efforts, the screwworm was detected in June on a calf in Texas’s Zavala County, near the US-Mexico border — the first US livestock case in decades. Since then, dozens of cases have been detected in the US this year, including infections in a horse and a dog, according to the USDA.