Give a screwworm an inch, and it’ll take a mile. This pernicious pest, which, in its adult form, has bulging orange eyes and a metallic blue-green body, has held insecta non grata status in Texas since before Anglos arrived. Among farmers and ranchers, the New World screwworm fly ranks among the most reviled of all livestock pests. This parasitic insect has the repulsive habit of laying its eggs inside a cut or scratch on a farm animal’s body. Soon the afflicted cow, sheep, or horse is teeming with broods of wriggling white maggots. If left untreated, the infestation can be fatal after only one week, as the worms dig ever deeper into their dinner. Cochliomyia hominivorax has not been found in Texas since 1982, but…
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