Screwworm in Texas: Second case confirmed as disaster declaration expands

[hamsterjill]

19. You are correct.

And those of us Texans who aren't crazy ass MAGA are going to suffer right along with the ones who are unfortunately.

Abbott gives good lip service to his base, but I have absolutely NO CONFIDENCE that this is going to be controlled as easily as some are saying. Locally, I'm hearing "aw, it's happened before", and "it's not that bad, hell, I pulled one outta my dog last week"....which goes to the mentality of some.

The last real impact from screwworm was in the late sixties, and life in Texas in the 1960's was a helluva lot different than it is now. In the 1960's, we had real cowboys who worked the cattle, knew the cattle, and knew what the hell to do. There was an honor system and they talked to their neighbors and helped one another out.

Today, we have more feedlots and corporate cattle barons who may not know a Hereford from a Brahma, yet make the decisions that decide actions. Those decisions will be made based on greed. There is not the same honor.

So yes, it is going to spread and become a nation wide problem - probably faster than many think. This is not going to be all about science and what there is to fix it and what there isn't. Some of this is going to be the ability to treat even when treatment is available. Finding, catching, applying and monitoring are just as important as having the meds to do the treatment. Wildlife will be affected without much anyone can do.

I posted yesterday about seeing a video from a rancher in Mexico who said he's never seen as many cases in companion animals as he has this time. So, are we looking at some type of evolution of the larvae? Hell, nobody knows what this is completely yet.

So, for my cat rescue, I'm buying up fly traps, fly spray, running fans on full blast, doing a twice daily inventory of any new wounds, keeping flea and tick meds applied just in case that does anything (jury is still out on this as per my vet yesterday), and hoping that the wildlife has a fighting chance as we've had some rain and grass is plentiful right now. So at least the deer aren't going into this skinny and sickly from the start.