Texas lawmakers heard conflicting reports on the state’s readiness to fight the New World Screwworm, which is approaching the southern border.
As Mexican officials battle the spread of New World Screwworm, Texas officials are still working to finalize a response plan that would be enacted should the parasitic fly spread into the state.
Texas lawmakers questioned state and federal officials on plans to combat screwworm during a Texas House committee hearing Tuesday. They also heard from industry groups on their concerns over how screwworm could affect their livestock and wildlife.
However, a response plan being formulated by the Texas Animal Health Commission with the U.S. Department of Agriculture is facing pushback from industry groups.
“The plan needs significant revision,” said Tim Niedecken, executive director of the Livestock Marketing Association of Texas. He added that he’s been in communication with the U.S. Department of Agriculture and told them they would be unable to comply with the plan as written.
Niedecken said the draft would require animals being moved out of an infested zone to have an ear tag, a vet inspection and receive treatment.
“I offer that as a very simple example, one of many that I could give you, of where this plan does not meet the realities of this industry today,” he told the panel of lawmakers.
Texas Animal Health Commission, the lead agency in Texas on New World Screwworm response, will likely publish its response plan in approximately two months, according to Dr. Lewis “Bud” Dinges, the state’s top veterinarian and executive director of the Animal Health Commission.
“Our plan was to go through the New World Screwworm playbook that USDA’s developed and go through our plan with individual or smaller industry groups over the next couple of months,” he said.
The goal is to be in lock step with the USDA to ensure their actions don’t harm trade.
“We’ve got to protect our ability to continue to move livestock out of the northern portion of our state into other states, so we need to make sure that we meet any kind of regionalization plan or domestic zoning plans that will mesh with our trade partners in New World Screwworm response,” Dinges said.
Concerns over screwworm ramped up this fall after the parasite was detected in the Mexican state of Nuevo Leon. One was detected approximately 70 miles from the Texas border in September and a second was detected about 170 miles from the border in October.
USDA officials told state lawmakers on Tuesday that within 400 miles of the U.S.-Mexico border, they’ve detected 14 cases, but all of them were related to cattle movement. None of the cases suggested the fly population itself was moving farther north.
Source: Berenice Garcia, The Texas Tribune
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