Two more cases of the New World screwworm have been confirmed in Texas, demonstrating the difficulty of stopping the spread of a pest that could potentially devastate the nation’s cattle industry, the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced Monday.
The screwworm is actually a fly, which produces a larva that eats live flesh instead of dead material. Females lay their eggs in open wounds of any warm-blooded animal, such as cattle, but wildlife, pets and occasionally even humans can be infested.
The USDA said the new cases were found in a calf and a dog, hundreds of miles apart in La Salle and Andrews counties. That brings the total number of confirmed cases to four. The screwworm was first discovered in a 3-week-old calf last week, and a second case was found only miles away in a young calf.
- Set up live stream
- build cage
- add elon
- add screw worm
- profit
You need to create open wounds on him first but we can make a carnival game out of it with a few bow and arrows. Fun for the whole family.
They could enter through any mucus membrane such as the nose or eyes.
Not fair! Why do the screw worms get to eat the rich but we don’t?
Its going to become endemic to the southern us isnt it.
It was already endemic, we spent 60 years chasing it to Panama and now they’ve escaped containment.
They didn’t so much escape containment as the sterile fly program failed to delivery, which most people blame on Trump and DOGE.
It’s a slightly complicated issue. Ultimately, Trump’s cuts are very much to blame.
The sterile fly program is what was doing the containing, but I hear you, this 100% falls at Trump’s feet.
It could be eradicated again, however we have to have a functioning USDA to coordinate it.
Fuck
The worms are coming for RFK Jr. They need to finish the job.
Wait until the screw worm crosses with the Ebola and we get Ebola Screwworm. RFK Jr will want to eat it.
Have the agriculture you voted for!
How did the DOGE cuts affect people working on this at the federal level or with federal funding?
According to this article,
The return of screwworm comes after the Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency, launched by the Trump administration, last year cut funding for a project dedicated to monitoring and containing New World screwworm in Central America.
The funding was axed days before the U.S. ended a temporary suspension of cattle imports from Mexico, meaning livestock was allowed to cross the border without any of the monitoring previously funded by the U.S. Agency of International Development (USAID).
Better get your proteins from less processed food. Get that screwworms in your belly as there’s no more beef.
Yeah, we’re fucked.
But is the dog okay?
I always wondered where the expression “get screwed” came from as a kid.
Nightmarish creatures.
Also: Added, Fuck
It’ll probably take at least a year to see any results though
