Imagine this – the United States is planning to release hundreds of millions of sterile flies from airplanes! No, this isn’t a scene from a sci-fi movie, but a real-life battle against one of the most dangerous parasitic flies attacking livestock across Central America and threatening to spread into the US. The parasitic fly, known as Cochliomyia hominivorax, whose larvae eat the living tissue of animals, has already caused epidemics in Panama, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, and Honduras, and has now reached southern Mexico. The American agricultural industry is in panic, with livestock and horse trading points closing at the US border.
How did the US once successfully eradicate this fly in the 1960s and 70s? By releasing sterile male flies from airplanes that mated with wild females but left no fertile offspring. This brilliant, yet somewhat creepy strategy is now planned again, but on a much larger scale. Currently, there is only one “fly farm” in Panama where sterile males are bred, but American lawmakers demand the production of hundreds of millions more flies to prevent a catastrophe.
The US Department of Agriculture has already announced plans to open a new fly farm near the Texas-Mexico border, with construction costs estimated in the millions of dollars. Professor Philip Kaufman from the University of Texas warns that the larvae of this fly attack not only horses and cattle but other domestic animals as well, complicating the situation further.
There is also a plan to invest $21 million to renovate an old fly farm in Mexico by the end of the year. Although the cost is high, officials from the Texas livestock industry believe it is worth it, as the livestock industry is worth billions of dollars.
This invasive fly is not just a problem for farmers but for the entire economy and food security. Imagine your livestock suffering because of these tiny but deadly insects! Is releasing hundreds of millions of sterile flies from airplanes really the solution, or just another expensive experiment? Either way, this battle will be closely watched and might even cause a bit of disgust.
If you have a funny or creepy comment about this fly invasion, feel free to share it – maybe together we can figure out how to outsmart them or at least survive this fly apocalypse!
