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US boosts drone surveillance as flesh-eating screwworms spread in Texas

Hundreds of Homeland Security drones retasked to survey wildlife and livestock.
Jeremy Hsu u Aug 12, 2026 3:40 p. m. | 34
US Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins watches a Customs and Border Protection officer talk about a quadcopter drone sitting in the foreground. The CBP drones have been retasked to help USDA survey animals for signs of screwworm infestation.
US Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins watches a Customs and Border Protection officer talk about a drone used to survey livestock and wild animals for signs of screwworm infestation. Credit: US Department of Agriculture

Hundreds of US government drones have switched from border surveillance to
a different surveillance mission this summerulooking for signs of screwworm infestations in wild animals and livestock herds.

The flesh-eating New World Screwworm is the parasitic larva that emerges
from eggs laid by flies in the open wounds or body openings of warm-blooded animals and humans, with untreated cases potentially leading to severe
injury or death. Since the first screwworm cases were detected in South
Texas in June, the US Department of Agriculture and US Customs and Border Protection have been conducting "one of the most extensive animal-health surveillance operations in the country, " the USDA said on August 10 in
social media posts on platforms like X and Facebook.

The effort involves at least 200 drones owned by the Department of Homeland Security, which includes the Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agency.
But the actual number in use "varies depending on availability and need, "
a USDA spokesperson told Ars.

The USDA also described performing 1,226 drone flights that surveyed more
than 23,000 animals as of August 11.

The USDA did not clarify how many of the drone flights may have led to detections of animals infested by screwworms in the United States. But if drone flights spot "moderate to severe injuries or clear evidence of infestation, " the USDA sends the information to Texas Parks and Wildlife Division and the landowner for follow-up actions.

The USDA dashboard showed 45 confirmed cases in domesticated animals across South Texas and New Mexico as of August 12. Most infestations involved
cattle or sheep, with several dogs and a goat also being listed.
How drone surveillance of animals works

The main drone featured in the animal health surveillance campaign is the Skydio X10 quadcopter, which carries a thermal imaging sensor capable of detecting temperature differences.

Such infrared sensors currently help drone operators to spot animals. But
the USDA is also currently evaluating whether the sensors can potentially detect higher body temperatures in animals that may have a fever related to secondary bacterial infections from screwworm infestation.

Drone operators working for the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service under the USDA primarily use high-resolution color imagery to look for open sores on animal bodies or check for abnormal behavior, such as "loner" animals, according to a USDA article and video that described an operation
at a ranch in Junction, Texas, on June 18.

With the landowner's permission, the drone teams arrived shortly after
sunrise to survey both livestock and wildlife on the ranch. That is because the early morning work hours made it easier for the drone's infrared
sensors to detect warm-blooded animals against the relatively cooler
ground.

The USDA is currently researching ways to use AI to "analyze drone imagery
to detect wounds, identify animals and prioritize inspections, " according
to the department.

Besides using drones for aerial surveillance, USDA has also relied on stationary cameras installed near trails to make more than 26,000 animal observations.

It has also established and monitored more than 8,000 fly trapsualthough
there have been no fly trap detections related to screwworm despite the recorded animal cases in the United States.

"It's possible there is only a very small number of fertile flies in the
area, rather than a large or growing local population, " the USDA
spokesperson told Ars. "It's also important to consider fly behavior: when live animal hosts are available, fertile female screwworm flies will choose
an animal over a trap. "

Such traps are still very useful when deployed as part of a broader surveillance system, according to the USDA.
From detection to eradication

Meanwhile, drones represent "an important force multiplier" for surveying larger numbers of animals in potentially rough terrain but do not replace
the "proven eradication method" of releasing sterile male flies to keep
down the New World Screwworm fly population in the wild, according to the
USDA article.

That method, called Sterile Insect Technique, was originally successful in eradicating flies from the United States and Central America and pushing
the screwworm population back beyond the Darie|n Gap at the border of
Panama and Colombia. But the screwworm flies breached the barrier in 2022
and have made their way northward, eventually leading to the new US cases
in animals this year.

To combat the spread, the USDA jointly funds and manages a sterile fly production facility with Panama that releases about 100 million sterile
flies each week. It also began releasing a similar number of sterile flies
per week in Mexico after completing a $21 million renovation to a fruit fly facility in June.

Now that US screwworm cases have appeared, the USDA has been working with
the US Army Corps of Engineers to build a new sterile fly production
facility at Moore Air Base in South Texas. US Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said that the facility is scheduled for completion by April 1,
2027, according to Border Report.

On July 29, Rollins also announced that the USDA was providing $25 million
to build a separate sterile fly facility in Douglas, Arizona. The USDA
press release suggested that "construction could be completed in as little
as several months. "

The biggest threat that screwworm poses in the US is currently to the livestock industry. But Mexico has already seen over 500 human cases in
2025 and 2026, with a recent study suggesting that the infestation rate is accelerating.

This article was updated on August 13, 2026 to include comments from the
USDA on how the drones are being used, clarification on the total number of drone flights and animals surveyed, and the effectiveness of fly traps.
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