TPWD officials respond to Chronic Wasting Disease at research facility

For those who might be unaware, CWD is a prion disease that affects the brain, spinal cord and other tissues of farmed and free-ranging deer, elk, and moose, according to the Centers for Disease Control Prevention. It may take over a year before an infected animal develops symptoms, which can include drastic weight loss, stumbling, listlessness and other neurologic signs. There are no known treatments or vaccines.

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Scientists believe the disease is spread between animals through body fluids like feces, saliva, blood, or urine, either through direct contact or indirectly through environmental contamination of soil, food or water. CWD was first found in 1967 in captive mule deer in Colorado. It has been documented in captive and free-ranging deer in 30 states and in Canada.

The first case in Texas was discovered in 2012 in a free-ranging mule deer in West Texas, according to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. The department says more than 600 CWD positives have been confirmed in Texas since the initial discovery, and that most of the positives are tied to whitetail breeding facilities and release sites.

Texas Parks and Wildlife Big Game program leader Alan Cain says the disease has been documented in 28 Texas breeding facilities. He said the department has depopulated 13 of those facilities since 2015 to help prevent further contamination and to curb the threat of the disease spreading elsewhere.

The actions have resulted in the demise of several thousand deer, with around 260 of those animals testing CWD positive in postmortem testing, Cain said.

Texas Parks and Wildlife Department’s depopulation orders and other CWD restrictions have turned into a controversial topic met with strong opposition more than once. Some contend the state’s disease restrictions are so overblown they threaten a deer breeding industry believed to be worth $1.6 billion annually to the state’s economy. At least one lawsuit is pending against the state agency.

Newest cases

Since September, Chronic Wasting Disease positive whitetails have shown up in breeding facilities in Kimble, Medina and Cherokee counties, and a free-ranging, two-year-old buck harvested by a hunter in Coleman County. Another free range positive whitetail was detected in May in Hollywood Park near San Antonio in Bexar County.

Texas’ most recent high-fence discovery in November came as somewhat of a surprise after a 14-month-old buck at The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department’s Kerr WMA research facility tested positive for the disease. The finding resulted in the depopulation of the entire captive herd, including bucks, does and fawns, according Ryan Reitz, project leader at the Kerr WMA. 

Nearly 50 years of research

The state’s research facility spans 23-acres and was built in 1974. It sits adjacent to the 6,400-acre Kerr WMA, where public hunting is allowed through the state’s drawn hunt program.

A December press release from the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department described the facility as one that provides researchers with facilities to study a pedigreed white-tailed deer herd in a controlled setting. The herd was built around native Texas whitetails obtained from various locations throughout the state.

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TPWD says the herd has been instrumental in learning nutritional, age and genetic relationships in deer. It has also supported wild deer herd management activities, outreach programs, trainings and the development of antler regulations across the state.

Deer were not routinely moved into or out of the facility after the initial stocking, the release says. The facility was double fenced in 2022.

A head scratcher

It is anybody’s guess how Chronic Wasting Disease found its way into the Kerr, where wildlife researchers have gone to extreme measures to keep it locked it out. The facility has been called “biosecure.”

Some may also be wondering where facility the goes from here following an abrupt end to the nearly five decades of valuable white-tailed deer research that have taken place there.

I recently reached out to John Silovsky and Reitz get their take on those issues and more. Silovsky heads up TPWD’s wildlife division. Here’s what they had to say:

How many total bucks, does and fawns occupied the 23-acre pen?

Reitz said the herd consisted of 89 deer — 38 bucks, 36 does and 15 fawns. He estimates the biggest buck scored around 140 Boone and Crockett inches.

“Prior to depopulation, we had just completed two phases of how energy works in body and antler size across generations, Reitz said. ‘We had just finished the reproduction part of that, with most of the focus on females and subsequent offspring.’

How were the deer euthanized?

“They were euthanized with a suppressed rifle and were not moved prior to euthanizing,” Reitz said.

How were the deer disposed of?

“After samples and genetic tissues were collected, deer were buried on site,” Reitz said.

I understand the facility is double fenced. How tall are the fences and how far are they apart? Explain the logic behind double fencing?

“The facility was double fenced in January 2022,” Reitz said. “All fences are eight feet tall, netted wire. The extra fencing surrounding the facility is at a minimum of 60 feet from pens with live deer. Double fencing was installed to prevent nose-to-nose contact of deer outside the entire facility, including other ruminants and feral swine.”

When was the last time a deer was brought into the facility from the outside?

“Seven bucks from Central Texas were introduced to the facility in 2007 and two fawns from the Kerr WMA in 2010,” Reitz said. “That was the last period of time any deer came in. Our program relies on natural service, using sires in the facility to produce fawns for studies.”

Extreme measures are taken to prevent possible CWD contamination at the Kerr. Please provide some examples of the precautions. and how long they have been used?

“We began adopting preventative measures in 2018,” Reitz said. “For example, dedicating equipment that is used exclusively in the facility, such as vehicles, feeding equipment, and handling and processing tools. The same goes for personnel or visitors; boots, clothing and disposable protective footwear or footbaths on entry and exit. Any construction equipment was cleaned of debris and soils prior to use for repairs or construction. These were all in addition to the double fence installation.”

What are your thoughts on how CWD may have gotten into the facility?

Reitz believes nose-to-nose contact from wild ruminants and movement of deer into the facility are not prospective sources. “We are likely dealing with other modes of transmission,” he said. “There are multiple avenues to look into, but we will likely never know for sure.”

What are the future plans at the facility?

Reitz said future plans involve additional testing on samples collected this past summer, including western blot testing for any indication of spontaneous infection in the suspect positive buck.

“This will give us a better picture here and yield the next best steps and opportunities to improve the scientific knowledge base for CWD. For example, completing more environmental testing may follow hopefully contributing to conclusions of the infection spread in the facility and potentially the standardization of early detection tools. Although we are not designed for disease research, we will continue collaborate and contribute.”

Additionally, carcass restriction practices will be implemented for all wild deer harvests and public hunts on the WMA. 

“Overall, we were fortunate to catch this very early in progression, potentially preventing the facility of being a source, impacting wild deer and susceptible cervids in the area,” he said.

Some believe the department missed a golden opportunity for CWD research by euthanizing all of the deer rather than using the existing herd and double-fenced acreage as place to conduct CWD research. What are your thoughts?

“The agency did fully consider what research opportunities may exist with this unfortunate circumstance of the CWD detection in our research facility,” Silovsky said. “However, there is much that remains unknown about CWD — not necessarily associated with best management practices to contain the disease where it is detected, but how the disease is introduced to deer in captivity or free range.

“Beyond the ‘how it got there question,’ the aspect of when an infected animal begins to shed prions and begins to infect other deer, or contaminate the environment, is critical to our future management. The risks associated with maintaining deer in a positive facility are too great,” Silovsky added.

“You cannot ignore the existence of the disease. Mitigation measures must be expeditious and aggressive. Maintaining any deer in the Kerr facility would have posed a significant risk to the free ranging deer on the WMA  and neighboring properties,” he continued. “The fact that everyone has a neighbor is too often overlooked when disease management decisions are considered. Once a facility is positive for CWD, containment of the disease is priority one.”