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A Parasite That Eats Cattle Alive Is Creeping North Toward the US

For decades, the screwworm was eliminated in North America, but containment efforts in Panama have failed. Now cattle smugglers are helping the parasite advance north.

Kurt Duchez, environmental crime coordinator at the Wildlife Conservation Society, explains that the current spread of the disease doesn’t seem to be related to the maximum flight capacity of the fly, which can reach 10 kilometers per day in the absence of food. The illegal movement of cattle occurs with trucks, they arrive at the border, cross them in wooden boats across the Usumacinta River, and continue their way to the other side.” Smuggling by road through Central America often takes place at night, and the animals moved are often emaciated and in poor condition compared to those raised in Mexico, potentially making them more vulnerable to infection. Between these locations and Catazajá in Chiapas, where the first case was detected on the Mexican border, Insight Crime has shown that illegal cattle go through a “laundering” process, which consists of putting labels on them and using falsified documents to cross customs without major complications.

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