Lorenzo, Las Piedras, Naguabo, Humacao, and 

 Yubucoa. At the end of 1982 approximately 2,4000 

 herds, involving over 72,000 animals, free of ticks in 

 the two quarantine and systematic tick treatment areas. 



Important strides in the tick eradication program in 

 1982 include the development of an effective and close 

 w/orking relationship with commonwealth officials, the 

 appropriate legal structure and action procedures, 

 policies to ensure employee safety while working with 

 pesticides, procedures for handling livestock pesticide 

 toxicosis problems, a Tick Advisory Committee, 

 availability of alternate pesticides, the use of cage vats 

 as an alternative to spraying livestock, and tick and 

 pesticide research projects in Puerto Rico. 



Progress Report on the New Cattle 

 Fever Tick Research Laboratory 



By the end of fiscal year 1983, the Agricultural 

 Research Service (ARS) will move the Cattle Fever Tick 

 Research Laboratory from Falcon Heights, Texas, to a 

 new $700,000 facility at Mission, Texas. The new 

 laboratory is located on a 100-acre plot on the 

 northwest corner of the old Moore Air Base near the 

 sterile screwworm fly production plant. The new site 

 will feature the following: (1) separate laboratories for 

 research on tick biology and acaricides, (2) covered 

 animal holding facilities for 64 tick-infested cattle, (3) a 

 modern dipping vat and spraying facilities for acaricide 

 testing, (4) a dipping vat and holding pens exclusively 

 for treating cattle to move them outside the quarantined 

 premises of the laboratory, and (5) about 90 acres of 

 pasture for use as experimental plots. The experimental 

 pastures will permit research on a variety of problems 

 including the role of white-tail deer and exotic game 

 animals in the ecology of Boophilus ticks, and the 

 sterile hybrid Boophilus eradication method. 



Recent Tick Research at the Falcon 

 Heights Laboratory 



During the past year samples of both Boophilus mi- 

 croplus and S. annulatus collected from tick-infested 

 cattle detected in the Tick Eradication Buffer Zone 

 were colonized and bioassayed to determine if acari- 

 cide resistant ticks were being introduced from Mexico. 

 As in the past, all of the ticks in the samples tested 

 were completely susceptible. In the event that 

 coumaphos-resistant ticks are detected, knowledge of 

 the efficacies of compounds that are alternatives to 

 coumaphos or other organophosphates will be impor- 

 tant in selecting other acaricides for use in the eradi- 

 cation program. None of the nonorganophosphate acar- 

 icides tested to date provide 100 percent control of ei- 

 ther cattle tick species. However, amitraz, a diamidide 

 applied as a spray at 0.015 percent active ingredient, 



provided greater than 98 percent controls of the larvae, 

 nymphs, and adults on the cattle at the time of treat- 

 ment and provided 100 percent residual protection for 

 7 days, post treatment against reinfestation by larvae. 

 Unfortunately, a formulation of amitraz suitable for use 

 in dipping vats has not been developed for use in the 

 United States. 



Tick Research in Puerto Rico 



The ARS Tropical Tick Research Laboratory in 

 Mayaguez, Puerto Rico, continues to provide research 

 support to the tick eradication efforts in Puerto Rico. 

 Because of the risk of crotoxyphos (Cio-Rid®) toxicosis 

 both in personnel of the tick eradication force and 

 treated livestock, a safer but efficacious acaricide is 

 needed. Extensive field tests demonstrated that both 

 amitraz and permethrin can be effective replacements 

 for crotoxyphos. Unfortunately, when applied as sprays 

 neither of these compounds controls 100 percent of the 

 ticks on cattle and, therefore, should not be used on 

 the tick quarantine line. 



All the potential hosts in Puerto Rico of the tropical 

 bont tick were surveyed for 2 years near Cidra, Puerto 

 Rico, in the heart of the area where the tick occurs. All 

 stages of the tropical bont tick have been collected 

 from goats, horses, and cattle, but not from other 

 domestic animals or wildlife. The limited host-range in 

 Puerto Rico of this tick will greatly simplify efforts to 

 eradicate it. 



Boophilus Program in Texas 



In 1982 Veterinary Services Tick Eradication personnel 

 apprehended 81 head of Mexican livestock along the 

 Texas-Mexico border areas from Brownsville to the 

 Amistad Dam near Del Rio. This compared to 76 

 apprehensions in fiscal year 1981 . Thirty-four of the 

 1982 apprehensions were cattle, of which 14 were 

 infested with Boophilus ticks. Forty-seven 

 apprehensions were horses, of which none was tick 

 infested. Thirty-four Texas premises were placed under 

 quarantine as the result of exposure to infested 

 Mexican livestock. Five new Boophilus infested 

 premises were found in the Free Area and 15 in the 

 Buffer Area during fiscal year 1982. 



In October 1982, Congress passed Public Law 97-312 

 which provides that tick inspectors who have been 

 designated by the Secretary of Agriculture and the U.S. 

 Attorney General can carry firearms for self-protection. 

 Inspectors authorized to carry firearms must first 

 receive firearms training at the Federal Law 

 Enforcement Center, Glynco, Georgia. The first class of 

 24 tick inspectors is tentatively scheduled to begin 

 training in December 1983. 



