The Texas Animal Health Commission is enforcing a quarantine for warm-blooded animals in 10 counties across the state due to a rise in New World screwworm cases. Austin Wildlife Rescue announced it is now unable to bring in rescued animals from the affected areas.
The counties listed in the quarantine are Edwards, Gillespie, Kerr, Kimble, La Salle, Sutton, Uvalde, Val Verde, Webb and Zavala. The closest county to the Austin area — Gillespie — is about 70 miles west of the city. The quarantine is for only the affected parts of each county, not its entirety.
Local animal shelters can still accept cold-blooded reptiles like lizards and tortoises. The executive director of Austin Wildlife Rescue, Jules Maron, said the shelter receives only a few animals from those counties each year, and it does not significantly impact its operations.
The idea behind the quarantine, according to Maron, is to limit the transport of animals and, hopefully, reduce the spread of screwworm.
"I think that the writing is kind of on the wall with this," Maron said. "Unfortunately, we're dealing with a fly. So, it's gonna be able to fly to wherever it needs to go here and lay eggs in wounds on animals."
The New World screwworm fly is able to lay eggs in open wounds, even small ones, and burrow into the living tissue, leading to its name, "screwworm," said Debbie Elliott, the chief veterinarian for Austin Animal Services.
One of the best forms of prevention, especially for outdoor pets, is to keep the fly population in your yard as low as possible, Elliott said. Flies are usually attracted to trash, stagnant water and feces, so pet owners should consider cleaning out their yard, she said.
There are currently eight cases reported in Texas, according to the USDA website. Travis County does not have any reported cases, but officials issued a disaster declaration on Friday out of precaution. The infested zones have checkpoints around the area to make sure animals being transported have been properly inspected by the Texas Animal Health Commission, according to Erin Robinson, a spokesperson for the commission.
The USDA is releasing sterile screwworm flies throughout Texas to manage the population using three main techniques: aerial dispersal, ground release chambers that are hung on trees, and releasing the flies through trucks on the ground, Robinson said. The commission and Texas Parks and Wildlife Department are helping to identify places in Texas to disperse the flies, according to Robinson. But she says that more sterile flies are needed to push the screwworm fly out of Texas.
To prevent screwworm cases, Robinson said ranchers and pet owner should check their animals as much as possible. It helps with reporting as well as the animal's long-term health.
"This is a super treatable condition," Robinson said. "And, actually, the first case in Texas was in a calf, and that calf has already fully recovered. It is doing quite well."
Animal owners concerned about their pets should visit their local vets, according to Elizabeth Ferrer, the marketing and communications manager at the Austin Animal Center.
If you take an animal that you suspect has screwworm to the vet, you should wear gloves and cover the exposed area with a cloth, Ferrer said. The vet should then take measures to isolate the animal.
If cases are reported and Travis County is placed under a quarantine, the Austin Animal Center is still required by law to accept animals because it is a municipal shelter, Ferrer said.
It is unclear what the procedure for warm-blooded animal intakes would be at the Austin Wildlife Rescue if the county is quarantined, Maron said. As for now, Maron said she is planning to meet with Texas Parks and Wildlife next week to decide on the right approach for the rescue, which takes in more than 10,000 animals each year.
This story has been updated.
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