Cattle imports from Mexico into the United States will resume after a monthslong pause to prevent the spread of a flesh-eating parasite.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture has put in place new protocols for screening cattle that come on foot across the U.S.-Mexico border after a case of New World screwworm was found in a cow in southern Mexico at a checkpoint along the border with Guatemala.
In the Mexican state of Sonora, south of Arizona, many ranchers make a living off exporting cattle to the United States. Sonoran Ranchers Union President Juan Ochoa Valenzuela told them in a video on social media that “soon, circumstances will improve.” The border has been closed to their livestock for more than two months.
The USDA said in a statement Mexico has prepared inspection pens south of the border at cattle crossings, including at the Sonora and Agua Prieta crossings along the Arizona border.
From there, cattle will receive a series of inspections to make sure they aren’t carrying the parasite.
New World screwworms are fly larvae that can burrow into the flesh of warm-blooded animals and can often be deadly. The United States eradicated it in the 1960s.
