News Release
\nTexas Animal Health Commission
\nBox l2966 * Austin, Texas 78711 * (800) 550-8242 * FAX (512) 719-0719
\nBob Hillman, DVM * Executive Director
\nFor info, contact Carla Everett, information
\nofficer, at 1-800-550-8242, ext. 710, or ceverett@tahc.state.tx.us<\/p>\n
For immediate release—<\/p>\n
The Texas Animal Health Commission (TAHC) marked an ominous anniversary July 3 by expanding the\u00a0 preventive cattle fever tick <\/a>quarantine\u00a0 area in\u00a0 south Texas by 307,000 acres, after the dangerous livestock pests were detected on cattle outside quarantine areas in Starr and Zapata counties. Fever ticks, capable of carrying and transmitting deadly \u201ctick feve<\/a>r<\/a>\u201d to cattle, have been detected on livestock or wildlife on 139 Texas pastures during the past 12 months.<\/p>\n \u201cIn July 2007, the first preventive quarantine was established\u00ad-39,325 acres in Starr County\u00ad-to enable the US. Department of Agriculture\u2019s Tick Force and the TAHC to inspect and treat livestock moved from the area, get ahead of the fever tick and push it back across the quarantine line,\u201d said Dr. Bob Hillman, Texas\u2019 state veterinarian and head of the Texas Animal Health Commission, the state\u2019s livestock and poultry health regulatory agency.\u00a0 \u201cNow, a year later, we have more than a million acres under preventive The enlarged preventive quarantine includes portions of Starr, Zapata counties and a small area in Jim Hogg County. It is bounded on the north by Texas Highway 16, from its intersection on the west with US Highway 83 to its eastern junction with Ranch Road 649.\u00a0 Ranch Road 649 is the eastern boundary to its southern intersection with US Highway 83, which is the western boundary\u00a0 stretching northward to the intersection with Texas Highway 16.\u00a0 Maps of this and all preventive fever tick quarantines are available on the TAHC website at\u00a0 http:\/\/www.tahc.state.tx.us<\/a> or by calling the TAHC at 800-550-8242.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is no longer a \u2018border war\u2019 against the\u00a0 fever tick,\u201d said Dr. Hillman.\u00a0 \u201cThe fever tick\u00a0 has gained a substantial foothold on Texas soil, and without adequate resources to fight this pest, it will spread.\u201d\u00a0 The fever tick, which can survive winters from coast to coast and as far north as Washington, D. C., was successfully pushed back into Mexico in 1943.\u00a0 Periodic tick incursions since then have occurred in Texas, but only one, in the 1970s, eclipsed the current outbreak for the number of premises infested and took six years to eradicate.<\/p>\n \u201cIn smaller states, a quarantine area the size of Delaware would raise red flags,\u201d said Dr. Hillman.\u00a0 \u201cTexas\u2019 vastness and the previous \u201cEarly this year, the fever tick program received $5.2 million of the $13 million of federal funds requested to fight the tick, and while \u201cIt\u2019s really a \u2018pay now or pay later\u2019 scenario, because this tick won\u2019t be stopped with less than an all-out assault that requires adequate personnel, sufficient treatment products, and enough equipment, such as portable dipping vats or portable spray boxes for cattle, and treatment equipment for deer and other wildlife hosts,\u201d said Dr. Hillman.\u00a0 \u201cTexas has a ticking time bomb in south Texas. So far, we have had only two of the three elements for a \u2018tick fever\u2019 outbreak\u00ad-fever ticks and fever tick hosts\u00ad-including cattle, horses and several species of wildlife.\u00a0 If, however, some of these fever ticks carry babesia<\/a>, a blood parasite deadly to cattle, the equation would be complete and we could see livestock death losses.\u201d (more on babesia here<\/a>)<\/em><\/p>\n On the front lines are the ranchers in the preventive quarantine areas who must gather their cattle for inspection\u00adwhich in the south Texas brush country usually requires helicopters and cowboys on horseback.\u00a0 The TAHC and USDA work cooperatively to provide the inspections to determine the scope of infestation in the area.\u00a0 Cattle, horses and ruminants, including llamas and camels, also must be inspected, treated and permitted prior to leaving the area.<\/p>\n Dr. Hillman encouraged ranchers to comply with the preventive quarantines and asked producers in adjacent counties to have their livestock checked prior to movement out of the area. \u201cIn discussions with ranchers, it has been suggested that cattle moving through south Texas livestock markets be inspected and dipped prior to sale,\u201d said Dr. Hillman.\u00a0 \u201cThis is being considered, but it, too, requires additional personnel, chemicals and the construction of dipping vats, resources we do not have at this time.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe have traced more than 1,000 cattle moved from ranches later found to be tick-infested,\u201d said Dr. Hillman.\u00a0 \u201cRequesting an inspection prior to movement costs nothing for the rancher, but it could save us countless hours of tracking cattle, time that could be better used in the field to fight the ticks. I also encourage ranchers anywhere in Texas to call us if they see tick infestations on their cattle.\u00a0 We can check the animals, and collect and send tick samples to the state-federal laboratory for identification. We do not want to take any chances with these ticks and spread them further.\u201d\u00a0 Ranchers can call their area TAHC office, or the a<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" News Release Texas Animal Health Commission Box l2966 * Austin, Texas 78711 * (800) 550-8242 * FAX (512) 719-0719 Bob Hillman, DVM * Executive Director For info, contact Carla Everett, information officer, at 1-800-550-8242, ext. 710, or ceverett@tahc.state.tx.us For immediate release— The Texas Animal Health Commission (TAHC) marked an ominous anniversary July 3 by expanding […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27,14,31,20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1508","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-government","category-industry","category-veterinary-medicine","category-watching"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ebarrelracing.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1508","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ebarrelracing.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ebarrelracing.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ebarrelracing.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ebarrelracing.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1508"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ebarrelracing.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1508\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ebarrelracing.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1508"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ebarrelracing.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1508"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ebarrelracing.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1508"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nquarantines in Starr, Zapata, Jim Hogg, Maverick, Dimmit and Webb counties, in addition to the half-million acres in the permanent fever tick quarantine zone that runs alongside the Rio Grande, from Del Rio to Brownsville.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nsuccess at keeping the fever tick controlled may be working against us.\u00a0 Now we need help, with a million more acres to cover and finding about a dozen infested premises a month.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nappreciated and used, it is not enough to win this battle,\u201d said Dr. Hillman.\u00a0 \u201cFurthermore, there has been no funding for the National Fever Tick Eradication Strategic Plan, developed and approved by USDA in 2006.\u00a0 It called for preventing entry of cattle fever ticks into the U.S., enhancing surveillance, and eradicating infestations resulting from fever tick incursions.\u00a0 The plan also was to identify and procure the tools necessary to keep the U.S. free of fever ticks, and to work with Mexico, where cattle fever ticks are not controlled.\u00a0 The strategic plan has not been implemented.\u201d<\/p>\n