AUSTIN—Prominent landowners, hunters, conservationists, scientists and other concerned citizens from across Texas are calling for immediate implementation of regulatory protocols in response to the recent outbreak of chronic wasting disease (CWD) in captive deer facilities in Uvalde, Hunt, Mason, and Matagorda Counties and associated release sites across the state.
In a June 14 letter to the Texas Parks & Wildlife Commission, the coalition expressed concern that practices associated with the deer breeding industry are creating undue biosecurity risks for wild deer and other susceptible species. Most landowners and hunters in Texas interact solely with wild (not farmed) deer for their recreation and hunting, and are therefore concerned about the impact the deer breeding industry could have on their livelihoods and the heritage of hunting in Texas. Specifically, the group is concerned that current testing requirements and other protocols governing captive facilities are inadequate to protect wild deer and other susceptible species.
“This disease may have been present in the Uvalde County facility for as long as a year prior to detection,” said Tio Kleberg, a South Texas landowner. “During that time, over 100 potentially exposed deer were transported to other facilities and release sites around Texas. That’s extremely concerning, especially if you own land or live in one of those 95 affected counties.”
CWD is an always-fatal, infectious neurologic disease that affects members of the deer family including whitetailed deer, mule deer, elk, moose, sika and several other species. To date, it has been documented in 26 states and three Canadian provinces, including West Texas mule deer in 2012.
Texas Parks & Wildlife Department (TPWD) has historically worked to support the deer breeding industry through reasonable, good faith protocols for disease detection and containment, but they now report significant levels of non-compliance with testing and reporting requirements for captive deer. For example, since testing began in 2012, deer breeders have reported over 9,500 lost or missing deer, raising serious concerns about testing accountability and biosecurity.
“This blatant disregard for the safety of our wild deer and our hunting traditions and culture is cause for extreme concern,” said Roy Leslie, a fourth-generation Hill Country landowner and Lone Star Land Steward award recipient.
Captive deer — which are confined in unnaturally high concentrations and shipped to and through multiple deer breeding facilities before being liberated to co-mingle with wild deer— greatly amplify the risk of spread and geographic distribution of CWD. The five facilities where 12 diseased deer were recently detected, have shipped 2,166 deer to 259 properties during the last five years, potentially exposing deer on private lands in 95 Texas counties. Of particular concern, under current law, no clearly visible external identification (ear tag) is required on liberated breeder deer, and therefore there is no way to perform efficient and effective contact tracing.
Approximately 87,000 deer are currently held under TPWD permits on approximately 950 captive deer breeding facilities in Texas. By comparison, there are more than 3.9 million wild deer; 700,000 deer hunters; and hundreds of thousands of landowners across the state who rely on hunting to generate income. For this reason, the coalition believes that TPWD should err on the side of the vast majority of constituents in their response to this outbreak.
Deer hunting in Texas represents $2.1 billion in annual economic impact, derived from license fees, excise taxes, funds raised by hunting and conservation groups, and other hunter expenditures. However, the indirect potentially devastating financial impacts on real estate and other rural values that could result from the loss of healthy, huntable wildlife populations would be inestimable.
“It is imperative that the response to this disease discovery transcends the captive deer industry and remains focused on identifying the source of infection and protecting the greater hunting industry and wild deer populations,” Kleberg said.
CWD is a member of the transmissible spongiform encephalopathy (TSE) family. TSEs such as scrapie in sheep and "mad cow disease" in cattle have caused significant harm to the livestock industry and in the case of “mad cow disease”, human health.
The coalition supports adoption of animal health and traceability standards similar to those implemented within the livestock industry when addressing similar diseases. Such standards include, but are not limited to, robust testing, stringent movement restrictions, mandatory testing of CWD-susceptible species, and the ability to rapidly conduct contact tracing. The group recommends these and other protocols be rapidly implemented in order to maximize public faith in the health and safety our state’s wildlife resources, livestock and farming interests, human health and biosecurity.
Deer breeders were aware of the potential risks associated with their industry, and now need to be part of the solution. It is not only TPWD's responsibility but a requirement of their mission to take all prompt and necessary actions to protect the resources entrusted to them by the people of Texas.
“The actions taken in the coming months will shape the future of our native deer populations for generations to come,” said Don Steinbach, Executive Director of The Texas Chapter of the Wildlife Society. “We are at a critical crossroad, and how we move forward must not be short-sighted.”
The coalition encourages Texas landowners, hunters and conservationists to be the voice of Texas wildlife and support the Commission’s efforts to enact these protocols for the benefit of all Texans.
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