According to Mario Esteban López Meneses, president of the Regional Livestock Union of Eastern Yucatan (Ugroy), the bite of the vampire bat causes a lot of damage to the livestock herd, with Tizimín, Panabá, and Buctzotz being the most affected municipalities.
“We are very affected by the bites of vampire bats and it is a focus that puts us on alert because the wounds left by vampires are the wounds where the screwworm can lay its eggs,” commented the livestock leader, who added that to date there are no cases of screwworm in the entity.
He mentioned that, although vampire bites affect all the ranches in the east and south of the entity due to the caves, the areas most affected are within the municipalities of Buctzotz, Tizimín, and Panabá, which is why Ugroy is creating brigades to capture this bat and thus prevent its attacks.
López Meneses pointed out that these brigades are capturing these mammals with nets, in addition to training ranch personnel so that they know how to apply vampirol, a product to control blood-sucking vampires and thus prevent the screwworm from laying its eggs or the animal from acquiring rabies.
Regarding the screwworm, the leader of the Ugroy commented that they are working with the State’s livestock associations to report on the processes to follow if a case is detected, for which three meetings have been held in the municipalities of Tizimín, Valladolid, and Buctzotz.
“We are disseminating all the information that Yucatecan producers need so that when it arrives because it is imminent (that it will arrive), they are already prepared. Unlike 35 years ago when we had this problem, now we have technology to be in communication and deal with cases more quickly with dewormers,” he said.
TYT Newsroom
