# Canada Halts Texas Livestock Imports as Flesh-Eating Parasite Spreads Across the Lone Star State
**Screwworm outbreak triggers cross-border trade restrictions, deepening pressure on Texas ranchers already reeling from tariff disputes and border-related cattle shortages**
Canadian regulators have slammed the door on a wide swath of Texas livestock exports, citing mounting alarm over the New World screwworm — a flesh-eating parasite that has been steadily gaining ground across the state’s cattle country.
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency confirmed this week that it is immediately halting shipments of ,horses, pigs, cattle, bison, sheep, goats, deer, elk, moose, llamas and more, originating from Texas. The move, announced through a U.S. Department of Agriculture release, marks an escalation of border restrictions that Canadian officials first imposed on Texas livestock last month.
## What the Suspension Means for Producers
Under the new rules, ,animals from other states are still permitted entry into Canada, provided they have not resided in or passed through Texas during the 21 days immediately prior to their arrival,. That detail places an added documentation burden on ranchers and shippers well beyond Texas’ borders, since livestock moving through the state en route to Canada — even briefly — could now trigger a rejection at the crossing.
,USDA-accredited veterinarians are now required to certify whether an animal resided in or was transported through a state affected by New World screwworm, and exporters have been warned that failing to provide that certification will result in the shipment being turned away at the Canadian border,. Canadian officials say the restrictions aren’t necessarily permanent. ,The Canadian Food Inspection Agency stated it will keep working with U.S. counterparts to monitor the situation and adjust the measures as conditions evolve,.
## A Parasite Making an Unwelcome Comeback
The screwworm — eradicated from the United States decades ago through an aggressive sterile-fly release program — has been creeping northward through Mexico for more than a year before finally establishing a foothold in South Texas this spring. The pest lays eggs in open wounds of warm-blooded animals, and its larvae burrow into living flesh, often causing severe, sometimes fatal, injuries if left untreated.
As of July 10, Texas had confirmed 34 cases of the parasite in livestock and other animals, according to state figures cited in USDA reporting. Investigators have struggled to pin down exactly how the pest slipped past border containment efforts. ,The Texas Animal Health Commission pointed last month to a potential culprit: small wildlife and rodents such as armadillos, opossums and rabbits, which may be helping carry the parasite deeper into the state,. Federal officials, meanwhile, have offered a broader — and more politically charged — explanation. ,USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins has cited multiple contributing factors, including border policies enacted during the Biden administration and the illegal movement of cattle tied to drug cartel activity,. Still, ,the exact source of the first Texas case remains under investigation, and other health experts say it’s still unclear precisely how the invasive pest managed to breach the Texas-Mexico border,.
Complicating matters further, ,the USDA closed all southern ports of entry to livestock imports from Mexico back in May 2025 and has kept them shut since, blocking cattle from legally crossing into the U.S., — a restriction that has squeezed supply chains even as officials try to contain the outbreak.
## Eradication Efforts Lag Behind the Threat
Federal officials have leaned on the same containment strategy that wiped out the screwworm from the U.S. in the 1960s: flooding affected areas with sterile male flies to collapse the insect’s reproductive cycle. But the scale of today’s response isn’t yet matching the urgency of the outbreak. ,Experts estimate roughly 500 million sterile flies are needed each week to eradicate the pest, yet the U.S. government is currently producing only about 100 million weekly out of a facility in Panama — and while that capacity is expected to grow, it isn’t projected to reach the required threshold anytime soon,. ,Other technologies officials had hoped to pair with fly sterilization remain undeployed or mired in disagreement, leaving both the Trump administration and Texas officials without a fast track to stamping out the threat,.
Not everyone agrees Canada’s response is proportionate to the actual risk. Texas Governor Greg Abbott’s office has previously pushed back on similar restrictions, with a spokesperson telling national media that ,the pest affects live animals and does not impact inspected Texas beef, calling Canada’s broad restriction on Texas livestock more political than science-based,.
## Looking Ahead
For now, Texas ranchers are caught in the middle of a public health precaution with real economic consequences. With no clear timeline for eradication and sterile-fly production still ramping up, the Canadian suspension could remain in place for the foreseeable future — leaving cattle producers, veterinarians and state agriculture officials watching closely for the next case count update, and for any sign that Ottawa is ready to reopen the border.