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
[email protected]" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
For immediate release---
Fever Ticks Lay Claim to a Million Acres in Texas
The Texas Animal Health Commission (TAHC) marked
an ominous anniversary July 3 by expanding the
preventive cattle fever tick quarantine area in
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 "tick fever" to cattle, have been detected
on livestock or wildlife on 139 Texas pastures during the past 12 months.
"In July 2007, the first preventive quarantine
was established-39,325 acres in Starr County-to
enable the US. Department of Agriculture's 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,"
said Dr. Bob Hillman, Texas' state veterinarian
and head of the Texas Animal Health Commission,
the state's livestock and poultry health
regulatory agency. "Now, a year later, we have
more than a million acres under preventive
quarantines 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."
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. Ranch Road 649 is
the eastern boundary to its southern intersection
with US Highway 83, which is the western boundary
stretching northward to the intersection with
Texas Highway 16. Maps of this and all
preventive fever tick quarantines are available
on the TAHC website
at
http://www.tahc.state.tx.us or by calling the TAHC at 800-550-8242.
"This is no longer a 'border war' against the
fever tick," said Dr. Hillman. "The fever tick
has gained a substantial foothold on Texas soil,
and without adequate resources to fight this
pest, it will spread." 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. 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.
"In smaller states, a quarantine area the size of
Delaware would raise red flags," said Dr.
Hillman. "Texas' vastness and the previous
success at keeping the fever tick controlled may
be working against us. Now we need help, with a
million more acres to cover and finding about a
dozen infested premises a month."
"Early this year, the fever tick program received
$5.2 million of the $13 million of federal funds
requested to fight the tick, and while
appreciated and used, it is not enough to win
this battle," said Dr. Hillman. "Furthermore,
there has been no funding for the National Fever
Tick Eradication Strategic Plan, developed and
approved by USDA in 2006. It called for
preventing entry of cattle fever ticks into the
U.S., enhancing surveillance, and eradicating
infestations resulting from fever tick
incursions. 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. The
strategic plan has not been implemented."
"It's really a 'pay now or pay later' scenario,
because this tick won't 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,"
said Dr. Hillman. "Texas has a ticking time bomb
in south Texas. So far, we have had only two of
the three elements for a 'tick fever'
outbreak-fever ticks and fever tick
hosts-including cattle, horses and several
species of wildlife. If, however, some of these
fever ticks carry babesia, a blood parasite
deadly to cattle, the equation would be complete
and we could see livestock death losses."
On the front lines are the ranchers in the
preventive quarantine areas who must gather their
cattle for inspectionwhich in the south Texas
brush country usually requires helicopters and
cowboys on horseback. The TAHC and USDA work
cooperatively to provide the inspections to
determine the scope of infestation in the
area. Cattle, horses and ruminants, including
llamas and camels, also must be inspected,
treated and permitted prior to leaving the area.
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. "In
discussions with ranchers, it has been suggested
that cattle moving through south Texas livestock
markets be inspected and dipped prior to sale,"
said Dr. Hillman. "This is being considered, but
it, too, requires additional personnel, chemicals
and the construction of dipping vats, resources we do not have at this
time."
"We have traced more than 1,000 cattle moved
from ranches later found to be tick-infested,"
said Dr. Hillman. "Requesting 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. 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." Ranchers can
call their area TAHC office, or the agency headquarters at 800-550-8242.
Ranches where ticks have been detected are
quarantined, and cattle are rounded up, inspected
and treated as often as every two weeks, or as
seldom as every 28 days, depending on the
treatment methoddipping, spraying or injection
with Dectomax, an injectable treatment. The
cattle are repeatedly treated and returned to the
pasture to 'pick up' ticks on the vegetation,
until the animals are tick-free, indicating that
the premises is free of the pests.
Another method of clearing a pasture of ticks
involves removing clean, treated cattle and
'vacating' the pasture for as long as nine months
to starve out the ticks. Recently, this method
has met with less than positive results, as ticks
have demonstrated their adaptability to live on
wildlife when cattle hosts are not available.
"Historically, fever ticks preferred cattle, and
sometimes, hitched a ride on horses. Now fever
ticks are being detected not only on white-tailed
deer and nilgai, but also on aoudad sheep,
fallow, axis and red deer, and elk. Fighting
fever ticks on a variety of species-especially
free-ranging animals that don't respect
fences-makes this battle much more difficult," said Dr. Hillman.
Currently, treatment of wildlife or exotic
livestock is limited to providing corn treated
with an insecticide, or setting up feeding
stations equipped with treated posts that
transfer pyrethrin, an insecticide, to the
animal's head and neck. Later, as the animal
grooms itself, the pyrethrin is distributed
across its body, killing the fever ticks. The
problem: some products require a 60-day
withdrawal period, so they can't be used just
prior to or during the hunting season. In the
quarantined areas, the hides of harvested animals
are either left behind, or inspected and treated
prior to being removed from the premises.
"Concerns about fever ticks run deep in Texas,
where the TAHC was established in 1893 to fight
this pest. A Fever Tick Working Group, with
industry and related agency membership, is
working on recommendations for getting ahead of
the fever tick, so it can be pushed back to the
border. Likewise, a Wildlife Subcommittee also
is working on suggestions for addressing fever
ticks on free-ranging and exotic livestock," said
Dr. Hillman. "Fighting fever ticks may seem
simple, but it's not easy.and it's never cheap."
