{"id":343449,"date":"2026-06-19T22:50:14","date_gmt":"2026-06-19T22:50:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/343449\/"},"modified":"2026-06-19T22:50:14","modified_gmt":"2026-06-19T22:50:14","slug":"new-world-screwworm-concern-delays-pet-rescue-flights-out-of-east-texas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/343449\/","title":{"rendered":"New World screwworm concern delays pet rescue flights out of East Texas"},"content":{"rendered":"

EAST TEXAS, (KLTV) – New World screwworm<\/a> concerns in Texas are preventing some rescued East Texas dogs and cats from leaving the state on transport flights.<\/p>\n

East Texas shelters had more than 60 animals lined up for a Wings of Rescue <\/a>transport to out-of-state partners and adoptive homes, but some destination states are no longer accepting animals from Texas as a precaution.<\/p>\n

The change means fewer animals can be placed out of state and shelters say that could worsen crowding.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey were already promised a forever home up there, and now, they are still here,\u201d said Kat Cortelyou, Executive Director of Pets Fur People.<\/p>\n

Kansas Pierce, director of the City of Athens Animal Shelter, said New York<\/a> and Pennsylvania <\/a>\u2014 two of the shelter\u2019s biggest destination states \u2014 have paused intake of animals from Texas.<\/p>\n

Pierce said 54 dogs and cats from the Athens shelter were scheduled to fly next week. Now, only 28 dogs are still expected to be able to leave, headed to Maryland<\/a>, which is still accepting animals. Pierce said some of the dogs left behind include Natasha<\/a>, a Great Pyrenees mix and her two puppies.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat flight would have probably wiped out almost our whole adoption floor,\u201d Pierce said. \u201cWhich is amazing, but we would have been full again in a day or two.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"PetsPets prepare to be flown out of state in February 2026.(KLTV)<\/p>\n

At Pets Fur People, Cortelyou said transports are key to managing capacity and any reduction in out-of-state placements creates a bottleneck.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had 10 dogs going, and now we are down to 8,\u201d Cortelyou said. \u201cIf Maine closes its borders, then we won\u2019t have any leaving.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cortelyou said the slowdown is hard on shelters and the animals waiting for placements.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s really sad for us, it\u2019s sad for the animals,\u201d Cortelyou said. \u201cIt slows things down and creates a bottleneck that we don\u2019t know we are going to be able to overcome.\u201d<\/p>\n

The two dogs at Pets Fur People left behind are Rocky <\/a>and Butterball<\/a>, who were set to fly to the restricted states.<\/p>\n

Until out-of-state options reopen, Pets Fur People and the Athens Animal Shelter are asking the community to help by fostering, which they say provides temporary relief and space for incoming animals.<\/p>\n

As of now, Wings of Rescue\u2019s next transport flight is scheduled for June 27.<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 KLTV. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"EAST TEXAS, (KLTV) – New World screwworm concerns in Texas are preventing some rescued East Texas dogs and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":343450,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[122489,246,122488,245,122486,122487,115357,27,29,28],"class_list":["post-343449","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-athen-animal-shelter","tag-dogs","tag-new-world","tag-pets","tag-pets-fur-people","tag-screw-worm","tag-screwworm","tag-texas","tag-texas-headlines","tag-texas-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/343449","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=343449"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/343449\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/343450"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=343449"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=343449"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=343449"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}