CWD case prompts containment actions
The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department has moved swiftly to set up containment and surveillance zones after chronic wasting disease was detected in a white-tailed deer in Val Verde County.
CWD was found in a 5½year old white-tailed doe that was taken by a game warden in October. TPWD announced confirmation on Thursday that the animal tested positive for the deadly disease.
The infected deer was found in poor condition with an abscess in its jaw. It was dispatched in a rural subdivision south of Lake Amistad, not far from Del Rio, where there is a high density of deer. Not a lot of hunting occurs in the immediate area of where the deer was found, but it is more prevalent in other areas of Val Verde County.
The discovery is the first case of CWD in that county. It is the second freerange white-tailed deer to test positive in the state this year after an 8½-year old buck from Medina County was confirmed to have CWD in February. CWD was first detected in Texas whitetails at a breeding facility in Medina County in 2015. Historically, most of the deer that have tested positive for the disease in the state are from breeder sites.
Val Verde County, located along the U.S.-Mexico border in the southern Edwards Plateau and the western edge of the South Texas Plains, is the sixth county in the state to have free-ranging deer test positive for CWD.
The department has launched an investigation to find the cause of the disease and its prevalence. Wildlife officials are hoping that this is an early detection.
“We’ve been very fortunate to be able to detect the disease very early, at least in the Northwest Panhandle and in the Medina County area,” said TPWD’s big game program director Mitch Lockwood, “and we certainly hope and pray that’s the case here as well.”
The neurological disease affects cervids, is always fatal and currently has no cure. Symptoms include drooling, listlessness, weakness, lack of mobility, and excessive thirst and urination. The disease is caused by prions, or misfolded proteins, that inflict brain damage. Those prions can be spread through bodily fluids like blood, urine and saliva, nose-to-nose contact, or can be spread through environmental contamination in soil, food and water. CWD does not appear to affect domestic animals and there is currently “no strong evidence” that it can occur in humans, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It is advised, however, to avoid consuming meat infected with CWD.
As of November, the CDC reports that CWD has been found in 24 states in the U.S. It was first discovered in a Colorado research facility in the late 1960s and the first case in Texas occurred in 2012 when it was detected in free-ranging mule deer in West Texas.
“Because eradication is thought to be impossible once CWD becomes established in a population, it is imperative that we work with other agencies, landowners and hunters to contain this disease within a limited geographic area and prevent it from spreading further among Texas deer populations,” Bob Dittmar, TPWD’s wildlife veterinarian, said in a release.
“This containment strategy is particularly urgent considering this detection happened in the middle of the general deer season.”
CWD containment and surveillance zones have been set up as part of an emergency order by TPWD executive director Carter Smith. A check station is operational at the RV park of the Del Rio Fisherman’s Headquarters, and hunters in the specified zones are required to report their harvest within 48 hours. The check station is open from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. until Feb. 29, except for closures on Christmas Day, New Year’s Day and on Christmas Eve from noon to 7 p.m.
TPWD has defined the CWD containment zone as beginning “at the International Bridge and proceeding northeast along Spur 239 to U.S. 90; thence north along U.S. 90 to the intersection of U.S. 277/ 377, thence north along U.S. 277/377 to the U.S. 277/ 377 bridge at Lake Amistad (29.496183°, -100.913355°), thence west along the southern shoreline of Lake Amistad to International boundary at Lake Amistad dam, thence south along the Rio Grande River to the International Bridge on Spur 239.”
“This temporary emergency action will allow us to try to contain CWD within the affected zone while we collect more information and gather more data,” Smith said in a release.
“The protection of our state’s big game resources is of vital importance and we are grateful to hunters, landowners and local officials for their cooperation in following these rules and spreading the word in their community to help keep the disease contained.”
Detecting the disease early is crucial to containing it. CWD can exist in the environment for a long period before it is detected in samples. When CWD is at a lower prevalence, it can take a lot of samples before a positive test is found.
“That’s one of the scary things about the disease. It can be cooking for a long time before it’s detected, which is why we put a lot of effort into surveillance — to detect it early if it exists,” Lockwood said.
Lockwood said he’s been pleasantly surprised by the amount of deer that have been brought to the check station already, as well as folks who have stopped by to ask questions and those who’ve voluntarily brought in deer from outside of the specified zones. He said the response so far has been encouraging.
Aside from requisite harvest reporting in both zones, prohibitions on transportation have been implemented, too. Movement of live deer in affected areas are restricted. It is also unlawful to transport carcasses from states or countries known to have CWD into Texas.
Carcasses also can’t be transported out of CWD zones in Texas without several requirements. The animal must be quartered with its brain and spinal cord tissue removed. The meat must be boned or cut and wrapped, as processing beyond quartering is not allowed until it reaches its final destination. It must have a caped hide with skull not attached. The skull plate must have antlers attached and must be clean of all soft tissue.
The head may be taken to a taxidermist with a deer head waiver form, which can be obtained from a CWD check station or TPWD’s CWD website, provided that unused portions of the head such as brain matter, soft tissue and spinal column have been properly disposed of in a landfill. Finished taxidermy products can be transported legally.
Wildlife officials are working quickly to determine the geographic extent of the disease in Val Verde County. Road kills and harvests are being collected and testing is being expedited in the area.
“Now that this is a CWD zone … we’ll be shipping samples multiple times a week and we would expect a maximum of two weeks for test results,” Lockwood said.
“We’re letting people know, if they’re not getting their test results online within two weeks, they need to get in touch with us so we can figure out what’s going on.”
A public meeting is being planned by TPWD, the Texas Animal Health Commission and the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service to be held in Del Rio. The time, date and exact location for that meeting will soon be announced.