Officials release sterile screwworms and see fewer dead deer

摘要

A federal effort to save the Key deer, a 3-foot-tall species specific to the Florida Keys, has been largely successful. Officials from the Department of Agriculture released nearly 60 million sterile New World screwworm flies in an attempt to get rid of the parasite decimating the endangered deer population. Offspring of sterile flies can't hatch. One deer was found infected and had to be euthanized. Officials say this is normal. "It's not unexpected at all," USDA public information officer Tanya Espinosa said. "This is pretty typical screwworm behavior, so we fully expected to find one or two more positives." That was the first deer euthanized since Nov. 15.