By Karen Gleason
The 830 Times
Commissioners court members voted unanimously Wednesday to renew a disaster declaration over rising infestations of the New World Screwworm, a parasite threatening U.S. pets, livestock and wildlife.
County Judge Lewis G. Owens Jr. signed the first “declaration of local state of disaster regarding the threat of New World Screwworm” on June 5. Texas government statutes authorize a county judge, “as the presiding officer of the governing body of the county, to declare a local state of disaster upon the occurrence or threat of disaster.”
The New World Screwworm, a parasitic blowfly native to southern Central America and South America, lays its eggs in open wounds on warm-blooded animals and humans, and the resulting fly larvae — known as screwworms — burrow into the wound as they consume the animal’s living flesh. Screwworm infestations were recently confirmed in Texas after the United States eradicated the fly north of the U.S.-Mexico border decades ago.
Owens on Wednesday told the court the initial disaster declaration expired June 12. He said if the court approved the renewal of the declaration, it would remain in place for 20 days and then be brought back before the court.
Before calling for a motion and second to approve the renewal, Owens told the court and audience, “I will tell you that I had a conversation yesterday and Sunday with ranchers, a couple of ranchers, and you all (ranchers) are our boots on the ground. You all will hear what’s going on before we get it from USDA (U.S. Department of Agriculture), TAHC (Texas Animal Health Commission) or TDEM (Texas Department of Emergency Management).”
Owens then expressed his continuing frustration with the lack of communication from agencies, especially at the federal level.
The county judge said, “One of the most frustrating things with this is that I think the agencies are having a pissing contest amongst themselves.”
Owens also said he had been told to provide one agency with a list of ranchers’ emails so they could be invited to participate in a Zoom meeting about the screwworm situation, but when he submitted the list, another person told him the ranchers could not be invited.
He said, “Then we go from that to an email that says, ‘There is a case (of screwworm infestation) 25 miles from the border,’ so again I call — and I’m having problems right now trying to be nice — I told her, I know that we have 1,255 miles of border with Mexico, so what in the hell does this mean? In that Zoom meeting, (someone) from the Texas Animal Health Commission says, ‘We really can’t tell you where because USDA has not put that out yet.’ But yet you all know where it’s at, shouldn’t we know? I mean, I don’t get it. I really and truly don’t get it. If you all know, it would be beneficial for everybody else to know. If I know there’s a case in the ranch next door, I’m going to be more active in what I do, versus knowing it’s 100 miles away.
“So again, this has been really frustrating. We went yesterday to San Antonio for training, and there were four judges there who are along the border, and we got together during a break, and they’re having the same problems. We just can’t get information,” Owens said.
The county judge continued, saying information about animal handling protocols in the infested zones is equally confusing.
“(Questions) as simple as can a dog leave the infested zone? If you talk to one (agency), it’s ‘all warm-blooded animals can leave, as long as they’re inspected by a certified inspector.’ And then when you ask the question, ‘Can a dog leave the infested zone?’ Because they say any warm-blooded animal must be inspected. But later on in a Facebook post, Texas Animal Health Commission puts out that as long as it is a companion animal, it doesn’t need to be inspected. … I sent out an email Thursday and could not get an answer in writing. This is frustrating as all get-out,” Owens said.
Commissioner Pct. 1 Kerr Wardlaw, whose family ranches in Val Verde County, interjected that the latest report he had received was that there are currently 11 cases of screwworm infestation in Texas and one in New Mexico.
“That’s the last thing I heard,” Wardlaw said.
“I think that’s gone up; I think it’s over 13 cases right now,” Owens said.
Commissioner Pct. 4 Gustavo “Gus” Flores agreed there could be new cases officials don’t know about.
After the exchange, Wardlaw made a motion to extend the declaration of disaster, with Commissioner Pct. 2 Juan Carlos Vazquez giving the second.
All members of the court voted to approve Wardlaw’s motion.
At the end of the meeting, under commissioners comments, Wardlaw spoke about the screwworm issue.
He said, “Just stay vigilant. Watch your animals. Watch your pets. Even wildlife. If you see infected deer, because everybody’s got deer in their yards all around Del Rio, north and south. Be watching for these infections. Call the judge’s office. He always puts out his phone number, and he’s sort of ground zero right now for this screwworm (situation).”
Owens added, “We do need to be vigilant. I will tell you that there’s a lot of agencies out there that are putting a lot of stuff out, but when you read it, it sometimes contradicts one versus the other. If you have questions, contact us. We will try to put you with an individual or an agency that can help if we can’t.
“This is serious. There’s more cases that have popped up. We got a warm-blooded animal that we took samples off of, and thankfully they came back negative,” the county judge said.
The writer can be reached at delriomagnoliafan@gmail.com.
