Austin, Texas – First came to, which led to the slaughter of large portions of the country’s poultry herd and the shot of egg prices, which helped undermine President Joe Biden’s reelection. Now, Texas ranchers and agricultural department officials are giving the next alarm: the New World Bicheira.
Texas cattle producers and ranchers fear that the United States are poorly equipped to deal with a potential bicheira outbreak whose invasion in the country seems increasingly likely. With beef prices already on the rise, the bicheira, whose name in Latin means “devouring men,” represents a real threat to both cattle and the cost of living of meat lovers in the United States.
“If we wait, we will lose,” said Stephen Diebel, vice president of the Texas and Southwest Cattle Creators Association, to state legislators during an Austin hearing this month while appealing by intervention.
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The bicheira, like measles, may have been forgotten by many, but it’s not new. And, like measles, which recently emerged in Texas, the bicheira has been practically eradicated from the United States.
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Infestations occur when a female fly lays eggs between 10 and 400 at a time in a recent animal wound. In a few hours, eggs hatch and turn into larvae that bury and feed on the meat. As the wound worsens, it attracts more flies, which lay more eggs. After about a week, adult-bicked flies can reproduce and restart the cycle. Parasitic infection can kill a cow within two weeks if not treated. Currently, there is no approved treatment.
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“It seems out of a horror movie,” Texas’s agriculture commissioner Sid Miller said in an interview. He saw cattle on suffering, infested by the bicheira, as a child in the early 1960s, before the disease was almost eradicated. “It’s a very put -sized view,” he said.
Cattle, wildlife, pets and, in rare cases, humans can be affected.
In the 1950s, scientists found that radiation effectively sterilizes bicheira flies, and the federal government began an eradication program. A small outbreak in a deer population in Florida Keys was controlled in 2017.
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Now a potentially larger threat approaches, migrating to northern South America, where the bicheira is endemic. It was detected up to 600 kilometers from the Texas border, carried by the wave of animals that cross the Darién Gorge, an once impenetrable area of jungle that separates South America from Central America. A joint effort of eradication between the United States and Panama kept the bicheira largely south of Central America for decades. Illegal cattle transport and warm climatic standards also contributed to the rise of the bicheira to the north, a department of agriculture spokesman said.
“For small herds, this can exterminate us,” said Shelbie Pippenger, who, with her husband, has a small herd in Texas and helps manage other farms. “When something starts, it’s hard to stop it.”
The Secretary of Agriculture, Brooke Rollins, announced in June an initiative of US $ 8.5 million headquartered in Texas that will produce sterile male flies and launch them in affected areas. Female flies mate only once in their lifetime, so sterile flies end up dominating and eradicating the plague.
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Rollins also allocated $ 21 million to reform a flies production unit in Mexico, where from 60 to 100 million sterile males would be produced weekly for use in Mexico or Texas by the end of the year.
But this effort would yield only about 20% of the sterile flies that the United States would need to control an outbreak, experts said. About 600 million flies were released weekly to eradicate the bicheira decades ago. Senator John Cornyn, Texas’s republican, presented a law that would provide $ 300 million to build a fly reproduction and sterilization installation, but the House left Washington for summer.
“We have a desperate shortage of sterile fly production,” said Diebel.
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Even before fear of plagues, the sector was already facing challenges. Drought and high feed prices have brought the American cattle herd at the lowest level since 1952, according to the Department of Agriculture. Domestic beef prices reached record maximums in May, with an average of $ 5.98 per ground meat pound, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics). Brazil’s beef, the world’s largest exporter, can bring some prices relief, although President Donald Trump promised to impose a 50% rate on Brazilian imports from August.
And now the bicheira is threatening to decimate whole cattle flocks in the United States.
Prior to eradication of the bicheira, US beef producers suffered up to $ 20 million in economic losses each year due to animal death, reduced livestock production, increased veterinary costs and other expenses, according to the agriculture department.
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Cattle breeders are asking the Texas legislators, who participated in a 30 -day special legislative session on July 21, who divide the cost of a Fly Factory in Texas, rather than waiting for the federal government.
“With regard to border security, Texas decided not to expect Washington to act,” said Charles Maley of the Southern Texan Rights Association during last week’s audience. “With the New World Bicheira, this state can do the same.”
Texas governor, Greg Abbott, did not answer questions about whether to approve state financing to a flies. Abbott instructed Texas’s Department of Wildlife and Wildlife and the Texas Animal Health Commission to create a response team to lead state preparations against the bicheira.
Meanwhile, based on the bicheira’s travel speed, Miller said she could reach Texas in four months.
In economic terms, the bicheira is already present, at least modestly. About 3% of US cattle comes from Mexico, but, alleging inadequate bicheira surveillance, the US Department of Agriculture suspended imports of Mexican cattle in November. Federal authorities resumed trade in February after Mexico implemented more rigorous inspection protocols. But imports were suspended again in May, after detecting the plague in Veracruz and Oaxaca.
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