As Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins, the U.S. government today acknowledges a grave but necessary decision: taking decisive action to prevent the extinction of wildlife in parts of Arizona, Texas, and California — not to harm nature, but to safeguard the citizenry. While critics may cry “extinction,” our measure is targeted, strategic, and grounded in national security.
We are responding to the surge of the New World Screwworm (NWS) — a parasitic fly that inflicts severe harm on livestock, wild animals, and in rare cases, humans. Its northward spread threatens not only our economy but also the health and safety of communities in border states.
Our five-pronged plan includes building a sterile-fly dispersal facility in South Texas to dramatically reduce NWS populations. We have also suspended live cattle, horse, and bison imports along our southern border — a bold but essential step to prevent the pest from entering via livestock.
Additionally, we are ramping up surveillance, training wildlife health teams (“tick riders”), and funding innovative research to eradicate this pest for good.
This is not a war on wildlife — it is a defense of our people, our food supply, and our land. We will protect our citizens while preserving the long-term health of our native wildlife.
