Screwworm confirmed in hunter-shot wapiti in Texas

The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department said it received laboratory confirmation on 21 October that a female wapiti shot by a hunter in Pecos County was infested with New World screwworm. The animal was on a game ranch. US and Texas authorities are carrying out additional wildlife surveillance in the area.

The finding comes amid a wider outbreak, not as an isolated arrival. A three-week-old calf in Zavala County was confirmed infected in June. The Texas Animal Health Commission currently lists confirmed detections in 18 counties and at 46 premises. Screwworm larvae feed on the living tissue of animals, often entering through wounds; livestock, pets and wildlife can be affected.

The species matters here. US authorities call the animal an *elk*, or wapiti (*Cervus canadensis*). A Dutch-language ANP report published by Nieuws.nl called it an *eland* — a moose, which is a different species. The ranch setting does not establish whether this wapiti ranged freely or was kept behind a fence.

The federal animal-health agency APHIS describes the find as the first detection in US wildlife. That wording is too broad as a historical claim: an APHIS investigation records a laboratory-confirmed infestation in a Key deer in Florida in September 2016. The Pecos County find is a wildlife detection in the current outbreak, not the first such US case ever recorded.

Texas officials say the animal-health commission will modify an existing infested zone. Movement restrictions already apply in parts of Pecos County. Wildlife officials have asked hunters to inspect animals before processing or moving carcasses and to report suspected infestations, including visible larvae in wounds.