Texas Gov. Greg Abbott issued a statewide disaster proclamation after the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) confirmed New World Screwworm (NWS) in the state.

“WHEREAS, on June 3, 2026, NWS was detected in a three-week-old calf in Zavala County, Texas, and in response, USDA, TAHC, and Texas response partners initiated unified incident command operations, increased surveillance and trapping activities, and accelerated sterile fly releases to contain and eradicate the pest,” the proclamation read.

More from The Texas Tribune:

The second case was found in a one-month-old calf 5.6 miles away from where the first case was detected on Wednesday, according to a USDA social media post. USDA deployed mobile response teams and increased surveillance in the area in response to the detection, the post said.

Abbott’s expanded order authorizes the use of “all available resources of state government to respond to this disaster,” he said shortly before signing the declaration during a news conference in Austin.

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The order further reassigns all resources from across the state as needed and makes available all state personnel, including those from university systems, to speed the shipment of sterile flies into Texas and the construction of a sterile fly facility in South Texas.

The sterile flies are intended to break the reproduction cycle of the parasitic fly.

“Here is the reality of this cycle. This is likely to spread over the course of the summer. During winter months, it may kill off the flies or reduce their number, but we can’t make it through a second summer,” Abbott said. “So I am pushing for the facility in the state of Texas, under construction right now, to be completed by May of next year, as opposed to November of next year.”

The state is prioritizing resources for Zavala County and nearby Uvalde County.

USDA established a 20-kilometer “infested zone” that prevents the movement of animals from the area without an inspection. A much wider surveillance zone — including Uvalde, Lima Grande and Crystal City — surrounds the quarantined area in Zavala County.

“WHEREAS, the Texas New World Screwworm Response Team has coordinated state response plan priorities across wildlife and livestock sectors, has facilitated information sharing and notifications of key preparedness and current event announcements, and has strategized effective preparedness and response measures to safeguard Texans and maintain continuity of business while effectively responding to the threat posed by NWS,” the proclamation stated.

“WHEREAS, the recent migration of NWS into Texas presents an imminent threat or occurrence of widespread danger and injury to the Texas agricultural industry,” it added.

“As expected, @USDA_APHIS confirmed the detection of a New World Screwworm (NWS) fly in a 3 week old bovine in Zavala County, Texas.  @USDA and Texas Animal Health @TAHC officials are taking immediate action to contain and eradicate NWS from the area,” Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins previously said.

FOX 7 Austin shared further:

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Officials said the focus now is containment and education, urging ranchers and pet owners to inspect animals daily for even small wounds.

“Any larvae on a living animal is a reportable issue and what that does is lets us mobilize more quickly so that we can get to the animal, provide treatment to it, eliminate those fly larvae from becoming adults and perpetuating the problem,” Texas A&M Department of Entomology Dr. Phillip Kaufman said.

“It’s terrible. It’s like right out of a horror movie,” Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller said.

Miller is pushing for additional tools, including a method he said was used successfully decades ago.

“What we’re doing is definitely not working. We could have stopped it if we would use a fly bait, that’s how we stopped it in the seventies and eighties, the fly bait is ninety five percent effective, but USDA refuses to use the fly bait,” Miller said.

Officials urge people to check animals daily and check small wounds and tick bites.

Wounds should be treated promptly.

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