Texas Declares War on Screwworms With New Task Force

I know what you’re thinking: why is there a picture of a fly when the title says “screwworms?” First, screwworms sound like something out of a horror movie because they kind of are. But here’s the twist: they’re not even worms! Nope. They’re flesh-eating fly larvae that burrow into living animals (yeah, living), and they’ve got Texas ranchers, pet owners, and even the Governor paying attention.

These flies have caused so much havoc in the past that Governor Abbott has preemptively assigned a task force to protect Texas livestock from the devastation that they cause!

What are Screwworms?

Screwworms are actually the larvae (aka maggots) of a type of blowfly called Cochliomyia hominivora. These tiny terrors lay their eggs in open wounds or even small cuts on warm-blooded animals. Once the eggs hatch, the larvae do what they do best: they burrow into flesh in a corkscrew motion and eat it. While most maggots are content to munch on dead tissue, screwworms are overachievers- they prefer their meals fresh and alive.

The result? Painful, infected wounds that grow fast, attract even more flies, and can eventually kill the host if left untreated. Cattle, sheep, deer, dogs, and even humans can fall victim. It’s a full-on parasitic horror show.

And because Texas is home to so many ranch animals and wildlife, a screwworm outbreak here can turn into a costly and chaotic mess real fast.

Texas Has Dealt With Screwworms Before

Screwworms aren’t new to Texas. In fact, they were once such a massive problem that the government had to launch one of the most intense pest eradication efforts in U.S. history just to get rid of them.

Back in the mid-1900s, screwworms were everywhere. They were wrecking ranches, killing livestock, and costing the U.S. cattle industry millions every year. Texas ranchers were constantly treating wounds, fighting infections, and losing animals left and right.

Scientists discovered that if you release a bunch of sterile male screwworm flies into the wild, the females would still mate with them, but no baby screwworms would hatch. The USDA launched a massive sterile fly release program in the 1950s and ‘60s, with planes literally dropping millions of these sterile males across Texas and the Southwest.

And it worked. By 1966, screwworms were declared officially eradicated from the U.S., and Texas could finally breathe a sigh of relief. Since then, the sterile fly program has moved south to places like Panama to create a buffer zone, and it's still going strong.

But even with all that, screwworms have managed to sneak back in now and then. Which brings us back to today.

It started with a handful of suspicious screwworm cases showing up along the southern border, mostly in wildlife like deer, but close enough to ranchland to make state officials nervous. While the cases haven’t exploded (yet), the Texas Animal Health Commission and USDA flagged them as a serious warning sign.

What Texas is Doing Now About Screwworm Threats

That’s when Governor Greg Abbott stepped in and announced the formation of a special screwworm task force. The goal? Get ahead of the problem before it spirals. The task force brings together state health officials, veterinarians, agriculture experts, and border authorities to track the threat, contain it, and keep Texas screwworm-free.

Thanks to science and some serious teamwork, Texas wiped them out once. And now, with Governor Abbott’s new task force in motion, the state is doing what it does best: taking no chances and fighting back early.

So if you’ve got livestock, outdoor pets, or just a healthy fear of flesh-eating bugs (same), stay alert, check for wounds, and know that the state’s got eyes on the skies, and on the flies.