The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) said on Wednesday it had confirmed the first detection of flesh-eating parasite the New World screwworm in US wildlife in an elk in Pecos county, Texas.
The elk was located on a game ranch and was reported after being harvested by a hunter, the USDA said in a statement.
The Texas animal health commission will modify a previously established infested zone, and the USDA and the Texas parks and wildlife department is conducting additional wildlife surveillance in the area, the USDA said.
“We encourage all hunters and landowners to be vigilant for signs of New World screwworm while they are out in the field this season,” Texas wildlife division director Alan Cain said in a statement.
Eradicated from the US decades ago, the pest has surged north from Central America through Mexico, prompting Washington to impose a more than year-long ban on Mexican cattle imports.
The US halted livestock imports from Mexico last year to keep out screwworm, but resumed trade in August at an Arizona port as part of a phased reopening plan.
The halt has tightened US cattle supplies and pushed beef prices to record highs for American consumers.
Despite those efforts, the screwworm was detected in June on a calf in Texas’s Zavala county, located near the US-Mexico border. There have since been dozens of cases detected in the US this year, including on a horse and on a dog.
