FLESH-EATING FLIES ARE CROSSING INTO AMERICA
THE FLESH-EATING FLY THREAT IS SPREADING
Watch Full Episode: https://bit.ly/goingrogue-ep86
Lara Logan sits down with former U.S. Border Patrol agent and Texas Public Policy Foundation Senior Research Fellow Ammon Blair to examine the growing threat of the New World Screwworm. Once nearly eradicated from the United States, this flesh-eating parasite has returned, putting livestock, wildlife, pets, and even humans at risk.
Blair explains how the parasite spreads, why warmer southern states are especially vulnerable, the staggering economic damage already being seen across the Americas, and how cartel-controlled cattle operations have drawn the attention of investigators tracking both organized crime and the spread of the screwworm.
#LaraLogan #Screwworm #BorderSecurity #FoodSecurity #NationalSecurity
AI GeneratedMay contain errors
That is disgusting. Okay. It's just truly disgusting. Um, but the, the disturbing thing is
that it is very, very real. Um, and it, and those flies can land on your livestock. If you're a
rancher providing meat for people in this country, they can land on your horses. Um, they can land
on your pets. You know, I think everybody knows at this point I have 11 dogs and nine cats. Um,
and so I don't, I don't want those flies on my cats cause I've seen the video, you know, um,
where it's just awful. In fact, there's screw them has been around, uh, for quite some time.
And USDA, when you go to their website, you can look up the old videos, right? You can see them.
I love those old videos because they really help you, um, understand, you know, what you're looking
at and give it some context. Um, but what I, you know, what I, what I took away from that is that
these, these screw worms that are really, I don't know why we, I know why we call them
worms because the lobby at what borough, but they really come from the fly. Right. And they drop off
these wounds into the ground. And that's where they form that, that cocoon around themselves.
And then they, um, and then they reborn and it's a much bigger problem in a hot place than a cold
place, right? Because like in Texas, we don't have the cold to freeze them and make it difficult for
them to survive. Uh, so it's across all these Southern States that are super hot over the summer
where it's going to get worse. Is that right? Yes, ma'am. And that's why it's still so prevalent
even though the, we, we somewhat eradicated it completely all the way down to Panama by 2006.
And we had like a containment zone near the Darien gap. Um, and, and so, but if you look at
how much loss, um, the, the countries in South America have in their agriculture sector,
you'll see that I think it's somewhere like 3.6 billion in terms of the amount of loss that they
currently have, um, each year, uh, because of the screw worm. Okay. So we're talking now, um,
more than 2000 people affected in this current outbreak and how many, uh, animals.
Yeah. So right now you have about 1800 live cases, uh, that are as, uh, South of us in,
in Mexico, you have right now, I think 19 cases in, in the United States already. Um, overall
since 2023, um, when the CDC started really paying attention, it's a little over 180,000
cases. Now the majority of these are going to be from your livestock or from a ranchers.
So we really don't know the amount because of wildlife, right? We, we really have, there's only,
there's only like a few groups that are actually looking into this in the wildlife sector. And
so wildlife conservation, uh, society, uh, they're the ones who have actually trapped this,
um, more than almost anyone else as well as inside crime. And I know you're familiar with
inside crime. Um, but it, and it's because, uh, they were actually looking into the jungle,
the jungles of Mesoamerica, like in Central America for the eradication of the protected
rainforests. And that's when they realized that the cartels were utilizing the cattle industry to
gain control over territory. Um, and that's when they really started tracking this issue themselves.