A MOST vivid childhood memory of life on a farm is one with my Uncle Isaac treating a young kid's freshly cut umbilicus (navel) with Jeyes.
The faintest hint of the smell of that once popular disinfectant brings to my mind's eye a scene of my big cousins holding the kid still while Uncle Isaac paints the cut surface with a long feather dipped in the foul smelling chemical. He was of course treating the wound either to prevent the infestation of the maggots of the 'blowfly' or to get rid of them.
Later, as an adult, I've had to engage in the same operation but mostly on my dogs which from time to time suffered cuts in fights during the mating season or otherwise. The other difference in my case is in the medication. I use the 'screwworm' spray for that is the creature that has for so long been a menace of farm animals and pets in this country.
The New World Screwworm is a major pest of livestock and man - some say a most devastating one and a most difficult one to control. This pest, in the adult (fly) form, has the remarkable ability to zero in on any unclean or untreated wound, lay its eggs, which hatch out in a few days and the resulting maggots begin to eat away at the tissues. Untreated the infestation can lead to death. At best it reduces the animal's productivity considerably.
Looking much like a common housefly but somewhat greenish in colour, this insect lives in bushes waiting for the slightest hint of a wound on a warm-blooded animal. Instinctively it finds this wound and deposits its eggs in it. Within hours, no more than 12, these eggs hatch out and the maggots begin to eat, burrowing deeper and deeper into the flesh of the animal. If untreated they will continue eating for about seven days then fall out and bury themselves in the ground where, for the next seven days, they undergo the changes that transform them into the adult fly. Two days after emerging, mating takes place and the females are ready to repeat the process. It is quite possible for the same wound to be re-infested if it has not been treated with the necessary medication.
What is most alarming is the fact that there are many cases of humans in Jamaica being infested by this pest especially among the homeless and those of unsound mind. It is estimated that the screwworm has been costing the country on average $5 million to $7 million annually through the loss of livestock and the cost of treatment for infected animals. This does not include the incalculable cost involved in the treatment of the thousands of pets, especially dogs, which become infected each year during the mating season.
For decades the livestock industry clamoured for a national programme to address this bothersome problem which was obviously getting worse year by year. When in 1998 the Government secured the support of the USDA, the International Atomic Energy Agency and the American/Mexican Commission on Screwworm Eradication to begin the National Screwworm Eradication Programme, the industry was understandably elated. The method chosen for this programme was the Sterile Insect Technique (SIT) which involves the release of millions of sterilised male screwworm flies over a period of two to three years. Bred in special facilities in Mexico these flies are much more aggressive than their counterparts in the wild and when released tend to beat them at the mating game. The result being of course that the females will be depositing unfertilised eggs and the population will be reduced over a period of time.
The programme started in 1999 with funding to the tune of US$9 million and technical assistance provided by the USDA and the American/ Mexican Commission on Screwworm Eradication. The Ministry of Agriculture's Veterinary Division is the implementing agency with Dr. George Grant, the co-ordinator.
The programme started well and after the first year it was estimated that the screwworm population had been reduced by more than 50 per cent. The rate of success has slowed since though because of a few minor snags and after the second year the estimates suggested the reduction was about 70 per cent. Approaching the end of the third year though and after the release of more than 250,000,000 sterile male flies what faces the programme administration cannot by any evaluation be considered minor.
Dr. Grant tells me that the population is down to 10 per cent but he doesn't see the programme coming to an end before November of this year. The major problem facing him is what has been a national problem in this country for far too long; the matter of stray animals on our streets and all over the country. These include cows, pigs, goats, and dogs especially. In many cases these animals have no owners and therefore go untreated whenever they get injuries. They remain a large and uncontrolled source of re-infection as well as of fertile males to continue the life cycle of this pernicious pest.
MASSIVE LOSSES
But if the stray animal situation sounds serious it pales in significance to the revelation that some established livestock farmers and establishments have stopped treating large portions of their herds on account of the decline in the sector. This, it seems, is due to the cut back in their labour force so drying-out herds on dairy farms for instance, are left unattended and therefore untreated when they get injured. It is even worse in the beef industry as some stockowners allow their animals to roam freely. This has resulted too in massive losses on some sugar estates as these animals invade the canefields for fodder. To add to the problem, these strays are often injured by shotgun pellets fired to drive them off. Untreated they are additional prey for the screwworm.
It is time the authorities deal with the stray animal issue. It has resulted in numerous accidents on our streets with severe consequences such as deaths and maiming of untold numbers. It was a matter of considerable concern for the quarantine personnel in the recent Foot-and-Mouth and Mad Cow disease alert. If the animal pound regulations cannot be made effective, clearly some other measure must be put in place to deal with the matter once and for all.
In the case of the Screwworm eradication programme, its success requires the co-operation of everyone concerned. If those who stand to benefit in the long run do not share the concern then it is doomed to be a long, drawn out and unnecessarily costly undertaking.
Hugh Martin is an agricultural journalist.
