Screwworm reemergence, illegal cattle movements, and emerging risks to wildlife and protected areas in Mesoamerica doi.org/10.1111/cobi.70333

7 confirmed cases of screwworm. Yesterday it was 5. The day before, 3. Two states. All originating from cartel-controlled ranches south of the border. BeefMaps.com has been tracking cartel cattle corridors for over a year. Now screwworm is in Texas. The parasite moved through the same routes the cattle did. InSight Crime confirmed it: outbreak hotspots mirror the smuggling routes. 800,000 head a year smuggled through Mexico with falsified paperwork, no quarantine, no traceability. CJNG doesn't just extort ranchers — they charge 5 pesos per kilo on export animals. They access live herd data through RFID tags. They run regional managers embedded in Mexico's legal export system. Cattle bought for $650 in Central America, resold for $1,500 in Texas. A $1.2 billion shadow market. The parasite isn't the only thing hiding in plain sight. The "Product of USA" rule changed in January. Packers can now only use that label if the animal was born, raised, harvested, AND processed in the US. The old loophole where imported beef got stamped "Product of USA" just for being processed here? Gone. But it's still voluntary. Packers don't have to tell you anything. They can just leave the label off. Imported beef from cartel corridors can sit in your grocery store with zero origin disclosure. MCOOL — mandatory country of origin labeling — would fix that. Every cut, labeled. Born where. Raised where. Slaughtered where. No exceptions. H.R. 5818 is sitting in Congress right now. The screwworm made this urgent. The cartel corridors made it obvious.

Flesh-eating screwworm has reached the US—a comeback driven by organized crime, writes @CNN. We need governments to shut down illegal cattle ranching, says WCS’s @radachowsky. cnn.com/2026/06/11/americas/…

El gusano barrenador ha llegado a Estados Unidos. El crimen organizado tiene parte de la culpa cnn.it/3S4wcWH

#México necesita cerrar la frontera sur a la importación y al contrabando de ganado de Centroamérica El ganadero Miguel Gerónimo Cerino, representante del sector ante la Cámara Nacional de Comercio delegación #Villahermosa, señaló que las autoridades deben actuar para evitar mayor daños al sector ganadero. Por un lado, sostiene, la llegada masiva de animales es una competencia desleal a productores locales y por el otro, la falta de control sanitario ha propiciado el aumento de enfermedades, entre ellas, la del gusano barrenador. Gerónimo Cerino acusa que la @SENASICA ha sido omisa en el control sanitario y el ganado enfermo centroamericano ha contaminado a todo el país. Resaltó que ahora que han llegado los primeros casos de #gusanobarrenador a Texas, Estados Unidos, ojalá que las autoridades de aquel país presionen al gobierno mexicano para cerrar los cruces fronterizos de ganado enfermo en Tabasco, en Chiapas y en Campeche.

Researchers have warned for years that illegal cattle smuggling has quickened the return of screwworm to its ceded territory in Central America. It has since spread northward to Mexico, Texas and, as of this week, New Mexico. cnn.it/49SyYob

Researchers have warned for years that illegal cattle smuggling has quickened the return of screwworm to its ceded territory in Central America. It has since spread northward to Mexico, Texas and, as of this week, New Mexico. cnn.it/4fEN8wJ

We cannot sterile-fly our way out of a trafficking pipeline. Disruption of illegal cattle trafficking must be treated as a core screwworm-control measure, alongside sterile fly releases, surveillance, quarantines, inspections, and treatment. cnn.com/2026/06/11/americas/…

🇲🇽 🇺🇸 | Every year, thousands of heads of cattle are illegally raised in protected nature reserves in Nicaragua, Honduras, and Guatemala and then smuggled into Mexico. This makes it increasingly difficult to identify and stop the spread of parasites like screwworm. bit.ly/4dQVrnV

STATEMENT: We now have confirmed infestations of the New World screwworm parasite in cattle, a goat, and a dog in the United States. We must stop illegal and unregulated cattle movement through Central America and Mexico. bit.ly/4vcREY4

Cattle smuggling from Central America into Mexico has been a longtime problem, unfortunately unherd.com/newsroom/blame-th…

Screwworm is back in Texas. Two calves. Zavala County. June 3 and June 5. BeefMaps.com traced this route before it arrived: cartel-controlled corridors, laundered cattle, fake ranch names, no USDA traceability. The Wildlife Conservation Society confirmed it — outbreak hotspots mirror smuggling routes. We told you this was coming. Now it’s here.

Worth noting This has been talked about. A wake up call to why we need to Protect our Borders and protect our beef herd!

#NewAnalysis | First US Screwworm Case Spotlights Contraband Cattle in Mexico. bit.ly/4dQVrnV

🇲🇽 | The screwworm parasite was first detected in animals in December 2024 on a remote farm near Mexico’s border with Guatemala. Now authorities say they’ve detected the first human case. Learn more in our investigation about cattle trafficking: bit.ly/4ldDH6M

🇲🇽 | Authorities in Mexico City have detected the first case of screwworm parasite in a human. Learn more about the links between screwworm and the trafficking of cattle smuggled from Central America to Mexico and the United States: bit.ly/4ldDH6M

The Westerlies look strong... Atmospheric coupling of El Niño all but guaranteed in June. Bullish for a Super El Niño.

Today, we celebrate bird migration but also what becomes possible when forests recover and communities thrive, write WCS’s @radachowsky and @annalellosmith on #globalbigday #migratorybirdday. nydailynews.com/2026/05/09/g…

On behalf of WCS and @CornellBirds, we congratulate President @BArevalodeLeon and the Government of Guatemala for their commitment to conserving and restoring the Maya Biosphere Reserve during this #GlobalBigDay. #BirdsConnectUs

📍Todo está listo para el #GlobalBigDay, una jornada global que moviliza a miles de personas en todo el mundo para observar y registrar aves. Este año, Guatemala está en el foco: desde la Selva Maya, comunidades, instituciones y aliados visibilizan la importancia de este territorio clave para las aves migratorias. 👉 Descubre cómo esta historia conecta todo el continente: bit.ly/GlobalBigDay2026-Guat… #GlobalBigDay #GBD2026 #BirdsConnectUs #LasAvesNosConectan #DeCentralParkaMesoamérica - 📍Everything is ready for #GlobalBigDay, a global event that mobilizes thousands of people around the world to observe and record birds. This year, Guatemala is in the spotlight: from the Maya Forest, communities, institutions, and partners are highlighting the importance of this key territory for migratory birds. 👉 Discover how this story connects the entire continent: bit.ly/GlobalBigDay2026 #GlobalBigDay #GBD2026 #BirdsConnectUs #LasAvesNosConectan #DeCentralParkaMesoamérica @CornellBirds @TheWCS @marnguate @CONAPgt @InguatPrensa @MagaGuatemala