New World Screwworm (NWS) is moving into North America, from the south, screwing up pets, livestock, wildlife, and even people. In all seriousness, it has been detected in Texas and New Mexico, and New York State is taking action to try to keep it away from us.

NWS (Cochliomyia hominivorax) is actually not a worm. It is a parasitic fly that burrows into living tissue, in a screw-like motion, causing severe wounds and suffering. The fly lays its eggs in open wounds and body openings such as the eyes, ears, nose, or mouth. NWS eggs hatch into parasitic maggots (larvae) that burrow into and feed on living tissue or flesh. Once the maggots are done feeding, about seven days, they drop off onto the ground, burrow into the soil, and grow into flies.

Wounds as small as a tick bite can attract the female fly to lay eggs. For more details, check out the Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

The NYS Department of Agriculture and Markets (Ag & Markets) sent out a letter to animal rescues in June 2026. This letter stated that no companion animals could be brought to New York State, from any states with screwworm infections, for rescue, adoption, transfer, sale, lease, sponsorship or gift.

On July 21, Ag & Markets issued revised import restrictions for companion animals coming into New York State.

I don’t personally know of any local cat rescues that go out of their way normally to import cats from other states for rescue. However, in past years, local rescues have taken in cats being moved out of other states in the throes of natural disasters, to make room in those out-of-state shelters for their local animals being rescued from floods, tornado and hurricane destruction, and other disasters. Screwworm spread could put a stop to this in the future.

These import restrictions do affect anyone buying a cat from a breeder in a state with screwworm.

As of this writing, no screwworm cases have been reported in New York, and I think we all want it to stay that way.

The amended order allows cats to be moved from impacted areas or suspected impacted areas into New York as long as an FDA-approved treatment has been given to them within 14 days prior to entering the state. The cat should have a certificate of veterinary inspection, which includes  the name of the product used, the date the product was administered, and how it was administered.

Obviously, this all relies on the good will of people who are moving animals. I am in a car right now, as I write this, and we have traveled from Ohio, into Pennsylvania, and into New York, without anyone stopping us at any state borders to see if we are transporting animals. People travel with their own pets all the time. It would be possible for the fly to spread easily, just from innocent people taking their pets on vacation with them. We’ll see how this holds up.

According to Ag & Markets: “Out of an abundance of caution, the Department is also urging livestock producers and pet owners in New York to remain vigilant for symptoms of NWS in their animals, which includes: 

If a pet owner suspects NWS infection, they should contact the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets at 518-457-3502.”

In case you are wondering how NWS is different from the usual gross botflies we often find in rescue cats, a quick Google AI query states: “The New World screwworm and the cat botfly are very different parasites: screwworms are flesh-eating maggots that live in open wounds by the hundreds, whereas botflies are solitary grubs that grow safely inside an individual swelling under the skin.”

Stay aware and alert if you are moving cats into New York!

Local rescues need you! There are many ways you can volunteer to help cats.

Kitten Angels has a variety of morning and evening shifts available.

What you'll do at the PetSmart adoption centers:
Feed and provide fresh water,
Clean litter boxes,
Sweep, wash dishes, and change the trash,
Socialize, play, and cuddle with the kitties!

Fill out the Kitten Angels Volunteer Application Form to get started.

There was a lot of snow right around December 28, 2025, when I first set a trap for Aethon. Bonnie, the Feeding Station Angel, shoveled paths all around the feeding area and the insulated cat shelters so that cats and humans could get through the snow. We met Bonnie in last week’s newsletter Capital Purrspective Issue #13 — she is the person who lives one house over from the feeding station and who is now the main caretaker.

Bonnie had a trap that she could set up in the yard, with the trap door held open with a bungee cord, so that the outside cats could get used to going into the trap to eat, without getting caught. She set that up a few days in advance and placed the cat food into the trap each night.

Rather than lug my own trap over there, I decided to use Bonnie’s, and set it up for trapping on that Sunday night. I waited around for a couple of hours and kept an eye on the photos sent to my phone by the cat trail camera. I could see a tuxedo cat going into the trap, but the trap was never triggered.

I finally decided to close the trap for the night, since I was going to go home, and when I went to do that, I discovered that the tuxedo cat somehow ate all of the food in the trap without setting it off.

It’s always so annoying to me when I find out that I messed up a trap somehow and a cat got away!

The next night, I decided to play it safe and just bring my own trap over. I’m very familiar with how it works, so hopefully I wouldn’t make some other mistake. I had a spay/neuter appointment all set up for December 30, so the night of the 29th was my last chance to catch a cat for that appointment.

I was successful and caught a black and white tuxedo cat that I had been seeing on the trail camera since the end of September. It was quite late in the evening when I caught the cat, which we named Aethon (another bird of mythology, following our naming scheme for cats from this area), so I kept the cat in the trap overnight. Usually I catch a cat two or three days before the appointment, so I transfer the cat into a cage.

The appointments are always made for a female, because a spay surgery takes longer than a neuter. That way, if I catch a female cat, I’m covered. If I catch a male cat, it’ll just be a quicker surgery, so that works out for the veterinarian.

For whatever reason, I assumed Aethon was male. I also did not try to scan the cat for a microchip, since I had the cat in a trap and didn’t think I could get the scanner close enough to the body to detect a chip.

The appointment was at one of our large local shelters. I dropped the cat off early in the morning, and came back before 5pm to pick the cat up. These events tend to be a little chaotic, so you don’t get any info before you come to pick up the cat. Payment is made in advance, so you could pretty much come by, pick up the cat, and leave without all the available information.

This pick up turned out to be pretty interesting. I was told that the shelter owed me some money, which seemed odd. I was given the cat and I asked something about the cat, calling the cat a him. The person helping me said the cat was female. I was surprised, and asked if the cat was pregnant. The response was that the cat had already been spayed (she had a tattoo and spay scar) and was also microchipped.

Here we go again! I asked where the cat came from, which is usually information included in the microchip record. While the staff did write the chip number down for me, no one looked up the chip number online or did anything to contact the company. Not part of their job, I guess.

The interesting thing is that the cat could have been from their own shelter. Had that been the case, the shelter could have offered to take the cat back and find a new owner for it. But, it usually seems like none of the large local shelters are interested or care about cats they microchipped and adopted out that turn up abandoned. No one seems to care about catching the abusers who dump cats outside, leaving them to fend for themselves. Imagine being an indoor cat and suddenly you’re just left outside in a strange place.

At any rate, the shelter did refund me the money for the surgery that didn’t happen. They were also nice enough to not give the cat an ear tip, as she turned out to be friendly and wouldn’t be going back outside as a release.

I brought the cat home and looked up the chip information and made the phone call. I found out that the cat had been adopted out through a different large local shelter. I was given the adopter’s contact information and that person’s back-up contact person information. I was met with dead ends. The owner’s phone numbers were disconnected and the back-up person’s phone went straight to a voice mail message saying that it could’t take messages. The cat had never been reported missing. In theory, the chip company also tried to contact the owner, but I recevied no update from them on that matter.

Aethon was caught seven miles away from her home. There is no way to know what happens to these dumped cats, but in this case it seemed possible that the elderly owner might have passed away and someone else took the cat and dumped it. It is incredibly unlikely that Aethon walked seven miles.

Aethon turned out to be very friendly, she had clearly been a pet. I was able to foster her through a local cat rescue and she got a wonderful home with another cat friend. Her new owner sent me a nice message and some photos. One more cat out of the wild city and back into a good indoor home situation!