Flies are used to protect cows. It might sound like a joke or science fiction story, but it’s real. The United States government has a plan to protect cows and other animals from a dangerous plague. What’s the plan? Dropping millions of flies from planes over some areas of the country.
Yes, you read that right. It’s an emergency measure to stop a very small but very harmful enemy: a parasite called the screwworm. Let’s learn more about this curious plan!
What is a screwworm?
The screwworm is a parasite that affects warm-blooded animals, like cows, horses, and sometimes even dogs or people. Its scientific name is Cochliomyia hominivorax.
What it does is pretty terrifying:
- A female fly lays around 300 eggs in an open wound on the animal.
- In just one day, those eggs turn into larvae (small worms).
- These larvae eat the animal’s live flesh from the inside.
- If it isn’t treated, the animal can die in one or two weeks.
This parasite had already been controlled and gone for over 20 years in Central America. But now it has come back and is getting close to the Mexico–U.S. border, which really worries ranchers.
Why is it so dangerous?
Even though this parasite is very small, it can quickly kill animals. So, if it enters the U.S., it could cause negative consequences for millions of cows and huge economic damage.
The cattle industry in the U.S. is worth about 10 billion dollars. If the screwworm gets in and spreads, thousands of animals could die, and that would affect farmers, the products we eat, and the country’s entire economy. Meat prices could rise, and exports could take a serious hit.
What’s the plan to stop it?
The solution may sound strange, but it already worked once in the past, during the Cold War (in the 1960s). The U.S. government used a technique that involves:
- Breeding millions of male screwworm flies.
- Sterilizing them with radiation (which means they can’t reproduce).
- Dropping them from planes over areas where the parasite might appear.
Why does it work? Because the female flies only mate once in their life. If they mate with a sterile male, their eggs don’t hatch. Little by little, the parasite population drops until it disappears.
Where are these flies made?
Right now, the government has only one facility in Panama that produces 100 million sterile flies per week. But that’s not enough to keep up with the growing risk.
To control this new threat, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced it will:
- Build a new sterile-fly factory near the Texas–Mexico border.
- Renovate an old facility in Mexico to help produce even more.
How much does this plan cost?
All this work isn’t cheap.It’s estimated to cost more than 300 million dollars. But if they don’t do anything, the damage to the economy could be much worse, with many animal deaths and losses for ranchers. In fact, some ports have already been closed as a precaution, and ranchers are checking their animals every day to make sure they don’t have larvae or suspicious wounds. It’s a race against time—and nature.
So, flies aren’t just pesky bugs.
Who would’ve thought these insects we always want to get rid of our house could help save cows? As strange as it sounds, this plan isn’t science fiction—it’s a serious effort to stop a dangerous parasite before it causes real damage. When the health of animals, the food we eat, and people’s livelihoods are at risk, even the weirdest-sounding solution is worth it. What do you think about this unusual idea?