In the end though, history will see it as a half measure where they really shouldn't have half assed it. It only took one moron to defund the project and all of it will come streaming back.
This is a generalizeable problem though, all these conservation efforts, nuclear powerplants etc rely on thr base assumption of a working society there. To really extinct something like the screwworm you need to make it a religous praxis of a cultural orgsnization that persist even when society breaks down.