Meet the tick riders of south Texas, a different kind of border patrol

EAGLE PASS, Texas — “This is as close to being a cowboy, but with bankers’ hours.” 

So says an older cowboy as he finishes saddling up his horse, Smoky, to trip alongside the Rio Grande in the Eagle Pass space, proper by the Texas-Mexico border. 

“Usually, it’s simply him and I. Monday by Friday.”

A cowboy model of bankers’ hours comes with fewer comforts, like having to put on chaps whereas driving so as  to guard legs from thorns and stabby twigs that fill the huge, stunning panorama close to the river. 

As a lot as the panorama is unforgiving and the job bodily difficult, it’s additionally liberating. 

“You’re kind of your own boss,” this older cowboy tells me. 

His title is Tony Romo. No, not that Tony Romo, previously of the Dallas Cowboys. This Tony Romo isn’t identified for throwing a soccer… or his work alongside the Rio Grande for 45 years, for that matter

“Most people (say), ‘You know, Tony Romo, the guy with the mustache?’ Yes, I’m known for sporting a decent mustache,” Romo advised me. 

“He grows it pretty special, yeah,” added Romo’s youthful brother, David. 

Instead of scoring touchdowns, this Romo measures his success in the prevention of invasive pests. 

He and his brother are tick riders for the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Tick riders are also referred to as the mounted patrol inspectors, or river riders. 

The job has been round since 1906. It solely exists in Texas, and solely alongside the Rio Grande from Del Rio to Brownsville in what is called a everlasting quarantine zone. 

“This program is extremely important for the cattle industry here in the U.S.,” mentioned Teofilo Vela, Romo’s boss and formally generally known as area operations supervisor for Cattle Fever Tick Eradication Program in Northern Counties. “We stop an invasive pest coming in and being detrimental and extremely bad for American cattle.” 

Vela mentioned there’s solely about 70 mounted patrol inspectors like Romo in the program. 

The tick riders patrol alone. The ones KENS 5 adopted on at some point in May labored the Eagle Pass space, alongside the Rio Grande and the boundary between the U.S. and Mexico. 

“You’re looking for signs of activity that don’t belong,” mentioned Romo. “You start tracking those tracks to see where they’re going.”  

Romo and Vela inform KENS 5 the riders are on the lookout for livestock—cattle and horses that strayed from the Mexico aspect of the Rio Grande to the U.S. The livestock could possibly be carrying cattle fever ticks. 

“The river itself is not a boundary,” Vela mentioned. “To them, they don’t know if they’re in one country or another.” 

Vela mentioned the livestock on the Mexico aspect of the river is resistant to the illness the ticks carry. But the livestock on this aspect of the river aren’t, and there’s no vaccine. So the solely approach to management the Texas Cattle Fever is to stop contact with the ticks, verify and deal with the cattle that wanders throughout or native animals which were uncovered.    

“It’s either gonna get sick or it’s gonna die,” Vela mentioned about livestock on the U.S. aspect of the river. “It’s very costly, very costly to the industry.”

The cattle that wanders into the nation is checked, handled and could be returned to its proprietor. If not, it’s liquidated. 

Since the riders work by themselves, the job may appear lonely. 

But Romo sees himself as a half of one thing larger. So he’s by no means alone.

“I have my friend,” he mentioned, pointing to Smoky.

“He’s always with you,” Romo mentioned, pointing to the sky. “If you care to take him with you.” 

Romo’s been out right here for 45 years. He grew into the job, after watching his dad do the work. He’s the oldest of six. His child brother David is a tick rider as nicely. 

“I did grow up with it, and watching him (Tony), yes, I can say he’s a big part of it,” David mentioned. “When you love your job, that’s not work, you know.”