USDA announces $750M sterile fly breeding program to protect cattle from Mexican flesh-eating maggots

The United States plans to breed thousands of sterile flies in a southern Texas factory in an effort to protect American cattle from flesh-eating maggots in Mexico The New World screwworm is a devastating pest the U S Department of Agriculture stated in a news release this week When NWS fly larvae maggots burrow into the flesh of a living animal they cause serious often deadly damage to the animal NWS can infest livestock pets wildlife occasionally birds and in rare cases people It is not only a threat to our ranching society but it is a threat to our food supply and our national measure Factory construction is expected to cost million and it would be located at Moore Air Force Base outside Edinburg Texas about miles north of the boundary VIRGINIA TECH EVALUATION SHOWS DOGS CAN DETECT INVASIVE LANTERNFLYThe USDA says sterile flies are now the majority effective way to prevent the spread of the maggots adding it hopes to produce and release them into the wild within a year USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins reported the leadership also plans to spend million on machinery such as traps and lures therapeutics demarcation patrols by tick riders mounted on horseback dogs trained to sniff out the parasite and other tools that could bolster preparedness or response to NWS Rollins added that the demarcation will remain closed to cattle horse and bison imports from Mexico until the parasite appears to be pushed back closer to Panama where it had been contained until late last year through the breeding of sterile flies there Farm protection is national precaution Rollins stated at a news conference at the Texas State Capitol in Austin with Texas Gov Greg Abbott this week All Americans should be concerned But it s certainly Texas and our confines and livestock-producing states that are on the front lines of this every day BROOKE ROLLINS FARM SAFEGUARD IS NATIONAL SECURITYThe parasite has hit Mexican cattle industry hard and Mexico s agriculture ministry noted it plans to take actions to mitigate the dilemma CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APPThe New World screwworm was a predicament in the American cattle industry until it was largely eradicated in the s through the breeding of sterile flies and factories were shut down afterward