New Mexico declares livestock emergency as screwworm threat spreads near border

New Mexico’s livestock emergency pushed the screwworm threat from a distant border warning to a direct operating risk for Hidalgo County ranchers, horse owners and pet owners. With USDA confirming the first U.S. animal case in Texas on June 3 and New Mexico’s first case in a dog in Lea County on June 8, state officials moved to unlock extra state and federal help before the parasite spreads farther north.

The New Mexico Livestock Board said the parasite poses a significant economic impact to the livestock industry, and its emergency declaration was meant to speed up suppression and control efforts under state law. That matters in Hidalgo County, where livestock work is part of the local economy and animal records are part of county business. The county’s ranchers are not watching a remote biosecurity issue, they are watching a border-region threat that can hit cattle, horses and pets with added treatment costs and movement delays.

USDA says it continues to disperse 100 million sterile insects each week in Mexico and along the U.S.-Mexico border to suppress the pest. The federal dashboard is tracking detections across Texas, Mexico and Central America as the outbreak, which has moved northward since 2023, keeps advancing. In New Mexico, officials established a 12-mile infested zone around the Lea County detection, and inspections and treatment are required before animals can move within or out of that area.

For Hidalgo County producers, that kind of zone is the immediate financial concern. A single suspected case can trigger veterinary calls, additional inspections, treatment costs and delays in cattle movement, all of which ripple through border-area operations that depend on predictable animal transport. The New Mexico Department of Agriculture also launched ScrewwormNM.org with state and federal partners, including USDA-APHIS, the New Mexico Department of Health, the New Mexico Department of Wildlife, the Livestock Board and NMSU Cooperative Extension Service, to centralize identification guidance, reporting steps and protective measures.

Officials are stressing vigilance because New World screwworm can infest livestock, pets and wildlife, and in rare cases people. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says no locally acquired human infestations have been reported in the United States in the current outbreak. Texas officials have pressed USDA for stronger action as more cases have been confirmed there, underscoring how quickly the problem can cross state and international lines and why Hidalgo County ranchers are being told to treat unusual wounds and infestations as urgent now, not after the first local case.