When people talk about New World screwworms in the United States, one date gets repeated over and over: 1966.
That is the year the U.S. Department of Agriculture now says the U.S. was declared free of indigenous, or self-sustaining, screwworm populations. It is also the date appearing in many modern explainers — from media outlets to scientific journals to animal health giant Zoetis — as screwworms again threaten livestock and livestock.
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As a farmer, landowner, chairman of the Lafayette Economic Development Authority, and someone who has served for more than a decade as a commissioner while advocating for agriculture and rural communities at both the state and federal levels, I don’t have the luxury of looking at these issues from a distance.
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Read MoreThe USDA named Texas cattle industry leader John Bellinger as Senior Advisor for New World Screwworm Preparedness, a move aimed at strengthening efforts to protect U.S. livestock from the reemerging pest.
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Federal and Texas state leaders held a news conference Monday afternoon in Kerrville, Texas, just hours after the U.S. Department of Agriculture confirmed the presence of two new cases of New World screwworm within the nation’s borders. In front of large signage that boasted the “War on Screwworm,” the goal of the conference was to reassure livestock producers and other Americans that the government is taking a proactive stance against the spread of the infestations.
