Screwworm Concerns
From the Ag Information Network, I’m Bob Larson. USDA has staff in Mexico seeking answers to why a cow infected with New World Screwworm was relocated from southern Mexico to within 70 miles of the US border …
STUMP … “We have people in Mexico right now, determining what the situation is, why it was not caught, and why that movement actually occurred.”
Deputy Under Secretary for Marketing and Regulatory Programs Lauren Stump, just days after USDA announced an infected 8-month-old cow was moved to a northern Mexico feedlot …
STUMP … “We have to advance that US oversight and surveillance. We’ve got to get better case reporting, lock down that animal movement that’s happening in Mexico, to prevent further spread.”
Ag Secretary Brooke Rollins accused Mexico of not cooperating to combat New World Screwworm’s spread and vowed stepped up US action to protect the multi-Billion dollar US beef industry and consumers.
Stump says that’s now happening …
STUMP … “We’re doing proactive trapping in areas
where we know it is not yet so that we have that early proactive signaling. We’ve also deployed traps along the US border in Texas, in Arizona and New Mexico, and are looking at deploying traps in California.”
USDA is also planning to add more cattle fever tick patrol officers and detector dogs to boost surveillance.
USDA launched a multi-million-dollar action plan last month, including new sterile fly production plants, after closing US ports to cattle, bison and horse imports from Mexico.
