Texas Gov. Greg Abbott issued a disaster declaration to help bolster the state’s efforts to prevent the spread of New World Screwworm (NWS) flies, his office said Thursday.
As CBS News reports, the larva of the insect can burrow into the flesh of living mammals like cows and horses, and can be deadly. The flies have not reached Texas, but are being tracked in Mexico as sightings slowly move northward toward the border.
“State law authorizes me to act to prevent a threat of infestation that could cause severe damage to Texas property, and I will not wait for such harm to reach our livestock and wildlife. With this statewide disaster declaration, the Texas NWS Response Team can fully utilize all state government prevention and response resources to prevent the re-emergence of this destructive parasite. Texas is prepared to fully eradicate this pest if need be,” Abbott said in a statement.
A Devastating Pest
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) calls the New World Screwworm a “devastating pest.” “When NWS fly larvae (maggots) burrow into the flesh of a living animal, they cause serious, often deadly damage to the animal,” the USDA says. “NWS can infest livestock, pets, wildlife, occasionally birds, and in rare cases, people.”
The Texas Parks and Wife Department says the maggots will lay eggs in “open wounds or orifices of live tissue such as nostrils, eyes or mouth. These eggs hatch into dangerous parasitic larvae, and the maggots burrow or screw into flesh with sharp mouth hooks. Wounds can become larger, and an infestation can often cause serious, deadly damage or death to the infected animal.”
An All Hands on Deck Situation
The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department first issued a warning over the screwworms just over one year ago. Since then, the state and federal governments have taken multiple steps to prevent the NWS flies from spreading and protect American agriculture.
The USDA has described the ongoing, northward spread of the New World Screwworm (NWS) as an “all hands on deck” situation since 2025. Although the flesh-eating parasite had been largely eradicated from the U.S. for decades, cases in Mexico have climbed rapidly since 2023, prompting an aggressive “whole-of-government” approach to prevent it from crossing the U.S. border.
Federal and State Efforts to Stop the Spread
First, the USDA is constructing of an $8.5 million facility at Moore Air Base in the Rio Grande Valley to breed millions of sterile male NWS flies, then release them into the wild to mate with females and prevent them from laying eggs. Secondly, the federal government has also temporarily suspended imports of live cattle, horses and bison from Mexico.
The Texas Department of Agriculture deployed traps along the border last summer loaded with a synthetic bait that mimics the smell of rotting animal flesh to attract, trap and kill the flies. Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller estimated last year that the traps would eradicate up to 90 percent of NWS flies.
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