# @downinnadesert on Instagram

- **Type:** Image
- **Original URL:** https://www.instagram.com/p/Dbbf35Ukt5j
- **Gondola URL:** https://gondola.cc/posts/68548216-downinnadesert-instagram
- **Thumbnail:** https://img.gondola.cc/tr:w-,h-,fo-auto/postThumbnails/cd9731a966.jpg
- **Posted:** 2026-07-30T20:00:21.000+00:00
- **Account Owner:** Down In The Desert🌵 (@downinnadesert) — https://gondola.cc/downinnadesert

## Caption

Arizona is about to become the country’s front line against a parasite that eats living flesh, and the feds just put $25 million behind it.

US Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins announced a new sterile fly dispersal facility in Douglas on Wednesday. The Douglas Port of Entry has been closed to live animal imports since May 2025, after New World Screwworm was reported in Mexico and started moving toward the border. USDA is reopening it to Mexican cattle on August 24, the first southern crossing to reopen.

The screwworm lays its eggs in open wounds on warm blooded animals. The larvae burrow into living tissue and feed as they grow, and an untreated infestation can kill an animal. It hits cattle, wildlife and pets, and in rare cases people. The US eradicated it in the 1960s. The first case back on American soil was confirmed June 3 in a three week old calf in Texas.

Where things actually stand. Arizona has zero confirmed cases. Statewide there have been 42 nationwide since June, almost all in Texas. Arizona has run 73 rounds of surveillance and submitted more than 900 samples with no detections. The new facility will pump out millions of sterile flies a week, which mate without reproducing and crash the population before an outbreak takes hold. Ben Menges, a fifth generation rancher in Safford, says his father lived through an outbreak decades ago that sterile flies wiped out.

If you have livestock, horses or outdoor pets, check for wounds daily. Watch for a wound that keeps getting bigger, unusual discharge or a foul smell, or any visible movement in the tissue. Report anything suspicious to the state veterinarian at diseasereporting@azda.gov.

Ranchers, is August 24 too soon to reopen?

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#Arizona #AZNews #Douglas #Ranching #DownInnaDesert

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## Tags

downinnadesert, aznews, douglas, ranching, arizona

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