Secretary Brooke Rollins Discusses Actions Taken to Combat the New World Screwworm

This update from Secretary Rollins highlights an aggressive, science-driven effort to stop the northward advance of the New World screwworm before it can threaten American livestock, wildlife, and rural economies.

Combat the New World Screwworm
Photo by Ric Matkowski / Unsplash
By expanding sterile-fly production, bringing a new facility online in Mexico, and investing in a major new production center capable of generating hundreds of millions of sterile flies each week, the strategy seeks to attack the pest at its source using the same proven technique that helped eradicate it from the United States decades ago.
Ranchers, wildlife managers, and conservationists may disagree on many things, but few threats unite them faster than a parasite that consumes living flesh and can devastate cattle, deer, elk, and other wildlife. The lesson is simple: prevention is always cheaper—and far more humane—than waiting until a crisis is standing in your pasture.