The Texas Animal Health Commission has placed Kerr County under a formal animal movement quarantine after New World screwworm was detected in a goat in neighboring Gillespie County, expanding a growing biosecurity crisis into the heart of the Hill Country.

TAHC Executive Director Lewis R. Dinges, D.V.M., signed the order June 9, designating portions of Gillespie, Kerr, and Kimble counties as Infested Zone 03 and imposing immediate restrictions on the movement of warm-blooded animals out of the zone.

The order is effective immediately and will remain in place until the commission releases the quarantine.