The U.S. government announced plans Wednesday to build an $8.5 million fly-breeding facility near the US-Mexico border as part of an initiative to prevent a flesh-eating parasite from infesting cattle.
The planned site, slated to be located at Moore Air Base in Texas, will breed millions of sterile male New World screwworm flies. The males will then be released into the wild to mate with females, preventing them from laying eggs that turn into flesh-eating larvae, the Associated Press reported.
A female New World screwworm fly lays eggs in the wound of an animal. The eggs then hatch into larvae, or maggots, that burrow into the flesh, causing potentially deadly damage, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
The Texas facility would be only the second of its kind in the Western Hemisphere, AP reported.
Recent appearances of the fly in Mexico — as close as 700 miles from the Southern border — have raised concerns among officials. Last month, authorities responded by suspending cattle, horse and bison imports along the US-Mexico border, according to a news release from the USDA.
US SHUTS SOUTHERN BORDER TO LIVESTOCK IMPORTS TO STOP SPREAD OF DEADLY FLIES
Taking further measures, the USDA said it may also create a companion breeding center at the Texas location so that as many as 300 million flies could be produced each week. The executive department also plans to spend $21 million to convert a separate facility near Mexico’s border with Guatemala into one for breeding for the fly. That site won’t be ready until the end of 2026, according to AP.
“The United States has defeated [New World screwworm] before, and we will do it again,” U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins said in a statement. “We do not take lightly the threat [New World screwworm] poses to our livestock industry, our economy and our food supply chain.”
