Screwworm Response Tops the Animal Health Commission’s Aug. 25 Agenda

The Texas Animal Health Commission will meet Aug. 25 for a staff briefing on the New World screwworm, the flesh-eating livestock pest that turned up in Texas in June for the first time since the United States eradicated it. Written comments closed at 5 p.m. Aug. 21, before this article published; anyone who wants to speak in person can register from 8:30 a.m. at the door.

Federal veterinarians confirmed the first detection on June 3 in a three-week-old calf in Zavala County, and a second in the same county two days later. The pest spread through South and West Texas over the summer; the U.S. Department of Agriculture counted 44 confirmed infestations — 43 of them in Texas — as of Aug. 1, and reported movement restrictions touching parts of 22 counties. Governor Greg Abbott expanded a statewide disaster declaration on June 5. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in August that the risk to people remains very low and that no one has caught it inside the United States.

The commission’s own response has been quarantine. It has issued executive director orders creating infested zones from which no warm-blooded animal may leave without the agency’s permission and a movement certificate. The federal side has been sterile flies and closed borders: the department shut the southern livestock ports in July 2025, finished an $8.5 million sterile fly dispersal facility at Moore Air Base near Edinburg in February, broke ground on a fly production plant at the same site in April, and in July announced a phased reopening of the ports, with Douglas, Arizona, scheduled to take livestock again on Aug. 24 — the day before this meeting.

Four sets of proposed rules also come up, covering the agency’s fees, who is authorized to act for it, entry requirements for animals brought into Texas, and poultry. The commission has not published text for them, so what they would do is not yet public. The agenda also carries orders against people accused of breaking commission rules, contracts and leases, and a budget report. The meeting opens in closed session on legal advice and personnel, with the public part starting no earlier than 9:30 a.m.

Watch the case count in the staff briefing, and whether commissioners tie the four rule proposals to the outbreak.

Meeting at a glance

Commission members

• Coleman Locke, Wharton — chairman; cattle raisers seat, ranch manager.
• Jimmie Ruth Evans, San Antonio — sheep and goat seat; rancher.
• Kenneth Jordan, San Saba — livestock market seat; auction owner and mayor.
• Anthony Klein Jr., College Station — poultry seat; egg producer.
• Barret J. Klein, Boerne — swine seat.
• Joe Leathers — equine seat; ranch manager.
• Thomas Oates, Huntsville — exotic livestock and fowl seat.
• Joseph Osterkamp, Farwell — dairy seat.
• Wendee L. Payne — general public seat.
• Benedict Scholz, Lavon — general public seat.
• Kynan Sturgess, Hereford — veterinary medicine seat.
• Johnny E. Trotter, Hereford — feedlot seat.
• Benjamin Turner, Kingsville — general public seat.

The roster follows the commission’s membership page, cross-checked against the governor’s March 2026 appointment release. The two sources give different hometowns for several members, so hometowns are omitted where they conflict. Executive director: Dr. Lewis Dinges, state veterinarian since 2023. Meeting contact: General Counsel Jeanine Coggeshall, (512) 719-0718.