Out of all the disheartening things that come with this job, I think the one that bothers me most is when someone thinks that news reports are all made up and full of conspiracies.
Lately I’ve been coming across comments on social media and in-person from people that I usually hold a certain level of respect about.
These people are not only facets of my professional life, but a handful I even thought were actual friends.
And to be perfectly honest, I thought that we’d left a lot of their sentiments behind us already.
I’ve been covering the resurgence of the New World Screwworm (NWS) for over two years already.
What started out as a cautionary tale about the pest creeping its way up from South and Central America has morphed into an actual concern to be addressed.
I’ve heard the nitty-gritty and terrifying facts about the NWS fly and maggot not just from county, state or federal professionals, but Mike also had his own brushes with the pest in his early journalist career.
In fact, when the news first broke about the NWS carving a path across Mexico two years ago, he told me a story about seeing a cattle hide from a dead animal.
He said it was riddled with holes and hung on the wall like a giant slice of Swiss cheese.
When I heard that, I couldn’t help but shudder!
I mean, I’m not a vegetarian, vegan, or even a pescatarian by any means, but I do care about the treatment of animals beyond just their possible use as food.
I couldn’t even begin to imagine the amount of pain and suffering that cow endured up until it was put out of its misery.
And overall, hearing that such a plague was heading this way again only made me more determined to ensure our coverage is as thorough as possible.
I’ve heard experts weigh in on the NWS with facts about how it can be found in ANY warm-blooded animal with fur or feathers – including humans.
Some have even said that the NWS fly can lay its eggs in a wound as small as a tick bite and that once the maggots start feasting on living flesh, the smell of rot will attract the normal sort of fly to lay its eggs in the wounds, too.
What’s worse is that we’ve only heard about the accounts of domestic livestock and pets being infected while wildlife aren’t even considered part of the equation south of the border.
One professional recounted that the Texas White Tail Deer population faced roughly an 80% decline during the entire time the NWS was running rampant in the state in the late 1960s.
Just think about that, 80% decline in deer and God knows how many other wild animals!
I’m just saying that there are multiple levels to the NWS problem to consider.
So, when someone tells me they think the NWS was released and spread on purpose to initiate something like the COVID-19 Pandemic – I want nothing more than to shake them until that conspiracy garbage disappears like an Etch-A-Sketch screen.
All we can do is continue our coverage and hope and pray that we’re protected and prepared countywide.
