New World Screwworm: Advocacy Action Guide
This Advocacy Action Guide has tools to help shelters and rescues advocate against blanket transport bans with their own state policymakers.
Updated: June 26, 2026
For comprehensive guidance, please view all resources on our Screwworm resource page, including:
Talking Points to Protect Companion Animal Transport
Use these points when speaking with state legislators, agriculture department officials, or state veterinarians.
- We support containment and we’re already doing our part.
Our organizations have expanded access to preventive parasiticides, increased veterinary oversight, and trained staff to identify and report suspected cases. We are partners in this response, and we ask that the regulatory environment reflect that partnership.
- Our ask: a Certificate of Veterinary Inspection (CVI) framework, not a blanket ban.
A CVI requires a licensed veterinarian to inspect each animal and sign off that it shows no signs of NWS infestation. That’s meaningful protection. A statewide prohibition shuts down life-saving work entirely, including healthy, treated animals with families waiting for them.
- This approach has federal and scientific backing.
The USDA’s own framework for agricultural animals — the highest-risk category — is zone- and inspection-based, not a blanket ban. USDA’s National Continuity of Business Movement Guidance explicitly excluded companion animals from mandatory requirements, deferring the framework to state discretion. Veterinary schools, shelter medicine programs, and national animal welfare organizations all reached the same conclusion: require treatment with long acting parasiticides, require a CVI with attention to NWS signs, and confine requirements to infestation zones.
- Many states have already adopted this. We’re asking you to hold that line.
A CVI framework is scientifically proportionate, operationally workable, and consistent with how animal disease risk has historically been managed. We are asking you to adopt it, or to hold that line if you already have.
- A ban doesn’t just inconvenience us, it risks lifesaving.
Interstate transport isn’t optional for shelters. It’s how we manage capacity, place animals, and keep communities from being overwhelmed. Our organizations cannot survive a categorical ban that shuts down transfer entirely, and neither can the animals in our care.
- We want to work with you. Please talk to us before escalating policy.
We welcome a direct conversation with your office and your state veterinarian about operational realities, compliance logistics, and community consequences. We have the veterinary relationships, staff capacity, and commitment to comply with rigorous, evidence-based requirements. We just need a framework that keeps the work possible.
For questions about NWS compliance or shelter transport operations, contact your Best Friends regional representative.
Letter Templates to Protect Companion Animal Transport
Customize these letter templates for state legislators, agriculture department officials, or state veterinarians.
Letter template for affected states
Dear [NAME/TITLE],
I am writing as the [JOB TITLE] for [NAME OF ORGANIZATION] in [STATE]. For our organization, interstate animal transport is not a convenience but an operational necessity. It is how we save lives, manage capacity, and serve our community. The policy decisions being made right now about New World Screwworm (NWS) will directly shape whether that work can continue.
I am not here to minimize the threat. NWS is serious, and we share your commitment to containment. Our organization has increased veterinary oversight, and have trained staff to identify, report, and treat suspected infestations. We are partners in this response, and we ask that the regulatory environment reflect that partnership.
Our request is straightforward: adopt a Certificate of Veterinary Inspection-based framework for companion animal transport, and do not extend restrictions to blanket statewide bans on animal movement.
A CVI requirement — a licensed veterinarian inspection and signed attestation of freedom from NWS infestation — provides meaningful protection while preserving the ability to move healthy animals to homes that are waiting for them. This approach is supported by veterinary and scientific consensus.
The USDA's guidance for agricultural animals is zone- and inspection-based, not a broad prohibition, and its National Continuity of Business Movement Guidance explicitly excluded companion animals from mandatory requirements.
The coalition of shelter medicine programs, veterinary schools, and national animal welfare organizations that co-authored companion animal NWS guidance reached the same conclusion: require treatment with long-acting parasiticides, require a CVI with attention to NWS signs, and confine requirements to infestation zones.
[NAME OF ORGANIZATION] has the veterinary relationships, staff capacity, and commitment to comply with rigorous, evidence-based requirements. What we cannot survive is a categorical ban. The animals in our care — healthy, treated, with families waiting — cannot either.
We welcome a direct conversation with your office and your state veterinarian before any policy escalation occurs. Thank you for your continued work to protect animal and public health in [STATE].
Respectfully,
[Organization Name]
[Title, Name]
[City, State]
Letter template for unaffected states
Dear [NAME/TITLE],
I am writing as the [JOB TITLE] for [NAME OF ORGANIZATION] in [STATE]. For our organization, interstate animal transport is not a convenience but an operational necessity. It is how we save lives, manage capacity, and serve our community. The policy decisions being made right now about New World Screwworm (NWS) will directly shape whether that work can continue.
I am not here to minimize the threat. NWS is serious, and we share your commitment to containment. Our organization has increased veterinary oversight, and have trained staff to identify, report, and treat suspected infestations. We are partners in this response, and we ask that the regulatory environment reflect that partnership.
Our request is straightforward: adopt a Certificate of Veterinary Inspection-based framework for companion animal transport, and do not extend restrictions to blanket statewide bans on animal movement.
A CVI requirement — a licensed veterinarian inspection and signed attestation of freedom from NWS infestation — provides meaningful protection while preserving the ability to move healthy animals to homes that are waiting for them. This approach is supported by veterinary and scientific consensus.
The USDA's guidance for agricultural animals is zone- and inspection-based, not a broad prohibition, and its National Continuity of Business Movement Guidance explicitly excluded companion animals from mandatory requirements.
The coalition of shelter medicine programs, veterinary schools, and national animal welfare organizations that co-authored companion animal NWS guidance reached the same conclusion: require treatment with long-acting parasiticides, require a CVI with attention to NWS signs, and confine requirements to infestation zones.
[NAME OF ORGANIZATION] has the veterinary relationships, staff capacity, and commitment to comply with rigorous, evidence-based requirements. What we cannot survive is a categorical ban. The animals relying on our interstate transfer relationships — healthy, treated, with families waiting — cannot either.
We welcome a direct conversation with your office and your state veterinarian before any policy escalation occurs. Thank you for your continued work to protect animal and public health in [STATE].
Respectfully,
[Organization Name]
[Title, Name]
[City, State]
Letter template for states that have enacted blanket bans
Dear [NAME/TITLE],
I am writing as the [JOB TITLE] for [NAME OF ORGANIZATION] in [STATE]. For our organization, interstate animal transport is not a convenience but an operational necessity. It is how we save lives, manage capacity, and serve our community. The policy decisions being made right now about New World Screwworm (NWS) will directly shape whether that work can continue.
I am not here to minimize the threat. NWS is serious, and we share your commitment to containment. Our organization has increased veterinary oversight, and have trained staff to identify, report, and treat suspected infestations. We are partners in this response, and we ask that the regulatory environment reflect that partnership.
Our request is straightforward: adopt a Certificate of Veterinary Inspection-based framework for companion animal transport, to replace the current blanket statewide ban on cats and dogs coming into the state for the purpose of rescue, adoption, and fostering. Cats and dogs should be treated no differently than other warm-blooded animals in impacted areas.
A CVI requirement — a licensed veterinarian inspection and signed attestation of freedom from NWS infestation — provides meaningful protection while preserving the ability to move healthy animals to homes that are waiting for them. This approach is supported by veterinary and scientific consensus.
The USDA's guidance for agricultural animals is zone- and inspection-based, not a broad prohibition, and its National Continuity of Business Movement Guidance explicitly excluded companion animals from mandatory requirements.
The coalition of shelter medicine programs, veterinary schools, and national animal welfare organizations that co-authored companion animal NWS guidance reached the same conclusion: require treatment with long-acting parasiticides, require a CVI with attention to NWS signs, and confine requirements to infestation zones.
[NAME OF ORGANIZATION] has the veterinary relationships, staff capacity, and commitment to comply with rigorous, evidence-based requirements. What we cannot survive is a categorical ban. The animals relying on our interstate transfer relationships — healthy, treated, with families waiting — cannot either.
We welcome a direct conversation with your office and your state veterinarian about effective policies and practices that promote public health and animal lifesaving.
Thank you for your continued work to protect animal and public health in [STATE].
Respectfully,
[Organization Name]
[Title, Name]
[City, State]