New Threat at Border as Ranchers Prepare for Flesh-eating Worm Outbreak

New World screwworm could devastate the Texas livestock industry, ranchers said.

Texas ranchers voiced concern but also skepticism about a potential outbreak of the New World screwworm, a flesh-eating parasite. Samira Bouaou/Illustration by The Epoch Times

FALFURRIAS, Texas—Mesquite thorns scraped Dr. Michael Vickers’s white ranch truck like nails on a chalkboard as he drove through the underbrush of his South Texas ranch searching for cattle.

The longtime Texas veterinarian has about 100 head at his 1,000-acre ranch just south of Falfurrias, where deer, wild turkey, and javelin—akin to wild pigs—roam freely.