Ep. 835: Attack Of The Screw Worms
The MeatEater Podcast
MeatEater
4.9 • 37.9K Ratings
🗓️ 16 February 2026
⏱️ 128 minutes
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Summary
Steven Rinella talks with Caleb Hubbard of the Hubbard Urban Entymology Lab at New Mexico State University and "Bubbly" Doug Duren.
Topics discussed: Stay tuned for twice a week MeatEater Podcast drops starting in March; come to the Safari Club International 2026 Convention on Feb. 19th to see Steve and Morgan Potter; a correction on Colorado wolf recovery; sous vide rewarming for frostbite; the ins and outs of the New World screw worm; how all warm blooded critters are potential hosts; being eaten alive; Doug's Sharing the Land organization; and more.
The New World Screwworm Threat Survey:
https://acesnmsu.az1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_eLjo05717Wzz1em
The New World Screwworm is a serious pest threat to livestock and wildlife, and New Mexico is taking steps to stay proactive—not reactive. The survey gathers input from ranchers, producers, hunters, land stewards, and community members across New Mexico. We’re studying what people know, believe, and need regarding screwworm prevention and response.
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See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This is an IHeart podcast. |
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| 0:37.3 | Check it out at firstlight.com. That's |
| 0:40.4 | F-I-R-S-T-L-I-T-E.com. |
| 0:47.0 | Join today by Caleb Hubbard, a veterinarian entomologist of the Hubbard Entomology Lab |
| 0:53.1 | at New Mexico State University. We're here to talk about the screw room. Can we call it epidemic, pandemic, pandemic, how it's going to kill everybody? No, no, I don't, I don't think, like make it seem good, like make it seem vital. Well, I think one of the things is that I'm trying not to cause panic. Uh, they think that that's kind of the, the biggest thing. But it is a kind of a big problem. |
| 1:14.4 | So, I'm trying not to cause panic. I think that that's kind of the biggest thing. |
| 1:14.4 | But it is a kind of a big problem. |
| 1:19.4 | So the screw worm fly is this, you know, parasitic fly that feeds on living flesh. |
| 1:20.8 | The U.S. had done a really good job of pushing it out of the United States, out of Mexico, down to Panama. |
| 1:25.0 | We'd kind of been holding it there for the last 20 or so |
| 1:27.7 | years. Um, but since 2023, we've essentially had cases of it that have been occurring. There's |
| 1:33.7 | been 15,000 or so cases in Mexico. And as of November of this year, um, there was a case 60 miles |
... |
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