Michael Marks

2 weeks ago | nebraskapublicmedia.org | Michael Marks

“His job every day for eight months out of the year was he would ride through the cattle, and if he saw any that had screwworm infection then he roped them, and he had saddle bags of different types of drugs and different types of treatments that he would use to treat those cattle,” Kelsey said. In the 1940s, USDA researchers developed a special medication for screwworm treatment called Smear 62. It was a Vaseline-like substance with a strong odor.

2 weeks ago | kosu.org | Michael Marks

Chuck Schmidt’s family raised cattle, sheep and goats in central Texas. His memories of helping his dad treat animals for New World screwworms are like most people’s. “Oh it’s nasty. It stinks. It’s gross,” Schmidt said. New World screwworms – which are actually flies – lay their eggs in the wounds of mammals. The larvae then burrow into the animal’s skin, causing illness and sometimes death. Before being eliminated from the U.S. in the 1960s, they plagued ranchers from Texas to the Dakotas.

3 weeks ago | texasstandard.org | Michael Marks

Schmidt still raises cattle in the area. He says he’s “absolutely terrified” of screwworms returning – which they’re in the process of doing. New World screwworms were largely contained at the border of Panama and Colombia for the last 30 years. But they broke through that barrier in 2022. Since then, they’ve advanced more than 1,000 miles to the Mexican states of Veracruz and Oaxaca.

3 weeks ago | tandfonline.com | Serina Padgett |Michael Marks

Advanced search Justice, Opportunities, and Rehabilitation Latest Articles Submit an article Journal homepage Full Article Figures & data References Citations Metrics Reprints & Permissions Read this article /doi/full/10.1080/2997965X.2025.2507578?needAccess=true Abstract Recidivism is an extensive, ongoing issue in the United States. Two factors that may be related to recidivism are opportunities for counseling and employment while incarcerated. We explore the question of how these...

1 month ago | kcur.org | Michael Marks

The U.S. Department of Agriculture recently suspended imports of cattle from Mexico, after new reports showed that a destructive pest called the New World Screwworm had moved north to the Mexican states of Oaxaca and Veracruz. The New World Screwworm – which is actually a fly – was a huge problem for U.S. livestock and wildlife until it was eradicated in the 1960s.