Meat-eating maggots turn dozens of deer into living corpses

The carnivorous fly larvae are attacking deer in the state of Florida, USA and turning them into rapid corpses that die after 7-14 days.

The US Department of Agriculture recently confirmed unidentified carnivorous flies attacking the Florid deer in Key West, Monroe County, Florida, USA, according to Immortal News, causing at least 60 deer to die in pain. pain.

Fly eggs hatch into maggots, they cling to open wounds of animals.(Photo: Wikipedia).

Florida deer, a species that is on the list of endangered animals with about 1,000 individuals worldwide, is very vulnerable to attack by the fly.

"It is now the deer's renaissance season. They often fight, cause wounds, attract flies. When infected, the mortality rate of deer will be very high," said Adam Putnam, who US Department of Agriculture spokesman, explained.

Female flies lay eggs on the open wound of the animal, especially on the head. Fly eggs hatch into maggots, they feed on living tissue from the host, turning the deer into living corpses with severely damaged heads. Infected animals leave the herd and, if left untreated, will die within 7–14 days.

A Florida deer suffers a serious head injury because of its attack.(Photo: Newsday).

After that, the maggots fall down, go deep into the ground and become flies for a few days. A female fly can lay thousands of eggs in her lifetime.

According to Putnam, the method to solve this situation is to release infertile male flies into the population , making female flies unable to lay new eggs, thereby reducing the number of flies. This is a technique that has been studied since the 1950s.

Veterinary and wildlife agencies at all levels are working continuously to eliminate the risk posed by flies."We will devote our efforts to save the remaining deer , " Putnam said.