Sterile screwworms to be released on Florida mainland in effort to prevent outbreak

In the coming weeks, swarms of sterile screwworm flies will blanket parts of the Middle Keys, an army of millions manufactured in Panama to combat an outbreak of the flesh-eating pest attacking the islands’ beloved Key deer. No screwworms have been detected on the mainland, but because so little is known about the dog — a German shepherd — or where it came from, officials want to act aggressively to prevent the spread of the grisly outbreak that has ravaged endangered Key deer. Since September, at least 135 deer, part of the last herd on the planet, have died in the Lower Keys.