FALFURRIAS, Texas—Mesquite thorns scraped Dr. Michael Vickers’s white ranch truck like nails on a chalkboard as he drove through the underbrush of his South Texas ranch searching for cattle.
The longtime Texas veterinarian has about 100 head at his 1,000-acre ranch just south of Falfurrias, where deer, wild turkey, and javelin—akin to wild pigs—roam freely.
Vultures glide overhead, ever watchful in a blue sky.
Vickers told The Epoch Times that ranches such as his are in the crosshairs of the New World screwworm, which devastated Texas livestock and wildlife in the 1970s.
Vickers, who served on the Texas Animal Health Commission, called the screwworms a catastrophic threat. They began showing up in Central America two years ago and now threaten the U.S. cattle industry and food supply….