Val Verde County schedules emergency meeting on screwworm response plan

Val Verde County moved quickly to put New World screwworm planning in front of Commissioners Court, scheduling an emergency-called meeting in Del Rio to consider how the county would handle a case that could hit ranches, pets, wildlife and border-adjacent operations.

The meeting was set for 2:00 p.m. May 28 in the Old County Court-at-Law Building. The agenda item was listed as discussion and possible action on protocol for screwworm cases, and the notice was posted May 24 at 8:37. The agenda also said the court could go into closed session for attorney-client matters, contemplated litigation, real property questions, contract issues and security matters before returning to public session. The next regular Commissioners Court meeting was listed for June 3 at 9:00 a.m.

The timing reflected a wider push across South Texas and along the U.S.-Mexico border. The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service said the United States is not currently home to New World screwworm, but the agency has been shifting sterile fly dispersal resources to reinforce coverage along the border, including operations extending about 50 miles into Texas. APHIS said it continues to disperse 100 million sterile insects per week in Mexico, and that as of Jan. 30 the northernmost active case in Mexico was about 200 miles from the U.S. border. Its current status page listed active detections in Nuevo León, Tamaulipas, Veracruz, Querétaro and Hidalgo as of May 24, and said all southern ports of entry are closed to livestock trade.

Texas Animal Health Commission guidance says New World screwworm was eradicated from the United States in 1966 using the sterile insect technique, but it can infest livestock, pets, wildlife, birds and, in rare cases, humans. For Val Verde County, that means the issue reaches far beyond ranch fences. It touches animal movement, veterinary response, and the day-to-day security of a county that sits close to a border where federal and state officials are already treating screwworm as a live threat.

That concern was on display May 18 in Weslaco, where county judges from Hidalgo, Cameron, Starr and Willacy counties held a joint press conference with representatives from the Texas Animal Health Commission, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, Texas Farm Bureau, Texas Veterinary Medical Association and the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association. Val Verde County’s emergency agenda showed local officials were joining that broader response before the threat could move any closer to Del Rio.