Dogs have once again proven that they are man’s best friend with the unique ability to sniff out a flesh-eating parasite that has threatened cattle in Mexico and the United States.
My RedState colleague Jennifer Oliver O’Connell recently reported on how the United States and Mexico were combating the New World Screwworm (NWS), a deadly parasite that affects cattle.
READ MORE: Ag Sec. Brooke Rollins Threatens Mexico Cattle Imports, Puts Screws on Them to Combat Deadly Worm
MORE: Weird: US Government Dumping Billions of Flies to Combat Flesh-Eating Maggots
In her report, she wrote about Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins threatening her counterpart in Mexico, Ag Secretary Julio Antonio Berdegué Sacristán, to help the US get the parasite under control or else.
NEW: Per @USDA official, @SecRollins sent this letter to the Mexican government today, threatening to restrict all animal imports from MX into the U.S. at ports of entry, including cattle & bison, if the MX government doesn’t begin to cooperate fully with the U.S. in its efforts… pic.twitter.com/E6fHpxg2mA
— Bill Melugin (@BillMelugin_) April 26, 2025
A post from Fox News reporter Bill Melugin read:
NEW: Per @USDA official, @SecRollins sent this letter to the Mexican government today, threatening to restrict all animal imports from MX into the U.S. at ports of entry, including cattle & bison, if the MX government doesn’t begin to cooperate fully with the U.S. in its efforts to stop the spread of the New World screw worm, a flesh eating fly that is spreading north from Central America & southern Mexico. The pest can be devastating to the cattle population.
RedState also reported about how the U.S. was hatching a plan to deal with the situation by breeding billions of flies and then dropping them out of airplanes over Mexico and southern Texas to eliminate the nefarious flesh-eating maggots.
The report read:
The interesting thing is that, yes, from a biology standpoint, this actually makes good sense. This is an act of biological warfare after all, but it’s against an insect pest, the larval form of the New World Screwworm Fly, which can do a lot of livestock damage in that part of the country. These screwworms burrow into warm-blooded animals and can cause serious damage not only to cattle and other large mammals but also to pets, birds, and, yes, people.
But what about the flies? Will they settle in and start raising families? Someone thought of that possibility, and that turns out to be the key to the whole thing. You see, the paratrooper flies that are to be dropped are sterilized male New World Screwworm Flies.
And now it seems that while the U.S. is using fly paratroopers to try to do the job, Mexico has discovered that rescue dogs have the ability to literally sniff out and detect the deadly larvae in livestock wounds.
Rescue Dogs Are Learning to Sniff Out an Invasive Flesh-Eating Parasite Heading for the U.S. https://t.co/EOxaRCyl1v
— People (@people) August 11, 2025
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It’s a three-month program by Mexico’s agricultural health safety agency, Senasica, using rescue dogs to help sniff the NWS larvae and hopefully put an end to the fatal parasite population.
The report read:
Senasica’s Canine Trainer Center, Ceacan, has recruited rescue dogs for a three-month intensive training program, teaching the canines how to sniff out and detect the New World screwworm larvae within the open wounds of livestock or agricultural products, according to The Straits Times.
Ceacan instructor, Mayte Tontle, told the outlet that the dogs use “cow-sized equipment inside [of] a greenhouse” that replicates the extreme heat that’s expected in infected areas. “We want our dogs to adapt as much as possible to the real-life conditions,” explained Tontle.
As wonderful as those pooches are, Cesar Dangu, head of the Canine Trainer Center, pointed out that not every one of them has the unique skills for the job.
It noted:
The trainer added that the rescues that most people turn away, like overly energetic pups, are often the ones perfect for detection jobs.
“We also have to look for other qualities: that they don’t get angry, they are affectionate, they can live with people and with other animals,” he said.
And for those pups that don’t make the cut, there’s still good news for them, because they get adopted out to forever families who get to enjoy the benefit of the pets’ extra training, People magazine reported.
In the spirit of full disclosure, I am an animal lover in general, given my dog Gunnie is sleeping to the right of me right now, and the cat Nikko is sleeping on the left of me. So, while I write more stories about the greatness of dogs than cats, know I am just a pet lover and I think they are all great, except maybe birds.
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