Found: CWD in Gillespie County
State officials have discovered CWD in Gillespie County. Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) has been discovered in a deer breeding within the county. The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) and Texas Animal Health Commission (TAHC) are collaboratively working to determine the source and extent of the first positive detection of the disease in this county.
CWD is a prion disease that affects deer, elk, reindeer, sika deer and moose. CWD has been found in some areas of Texas and it continues to increase. It may take over a year before an infected deer develops symptoms, which can include drastic weight loss (wasting), stumbling, listlessness and other neurologic symptoms. CWD can affect deer of all ages and some infected animals may die without ever developing the disease. CWD is fatal to animals and there are no treatments or vaccines.
Deer Positive for CWD in Gillespie County
After the mortality of a white-tailed deer on the premises was identified, tissue samples from the one-year-old buck were submitted by the deer breeding facility as part of a required CWD surveillance program. The samples were tested at the Texas A&M Veterinary Medical Diagnostic Laboratory (TVMDL) in College Station on August 17 and indicated the presence of CWD. The National Veterinary Services Laboratory in Ames, Iowa confirmed CWD in those tissue samples on August 30.
Immediate action has been taken to secure all deer located at the facility and plans to conduct additional CWD investigations are underway. Additionally, other breeding facilities that received deer or shipped deer to this facility, during the last five years, have been identified and placed under movement restrictions.
READ: CWD Testing Required for Exotics in Texas
“Response staff are diligently working to conduct epidemiological investigations, but the nature of the disease makes definitive findings difficult to determine,” said Dr. Andy Schwartz, TAHC State Veterinarian. “The incubation period of CWD can span years creating disease detection and management challenges.”
More CWD in Gillespie County?
Animal health and wildlife officials will investigate to determine the extent of the disease within the facility and mitigate risks to Texas’ CWD susceptible species. Quick detection of CWD can help mitigate the disease’s spread.
“The discovery of CWD in Gillespie County at this breeding facility is an unfortunate situation that TPWD and TAHC take very seriously,” said John Silovsky, Wildlife Division Director for TPWD. “Both agencies will respond appropriately to this matter to protect the state’s susceptible species from further disease exposure.”
More on CWD
First recognized in 1967 in captive mule deer in Colorado, CWD has since been documented in captive and/or free-ranging deer in 30 states and three Canadian provinces. To date, 376 captive or free-ranging cervids — including white-tailed deer, mule deer, red deer and elk — in 15 Texas counties have tested positive for CWD. For more information on previous detections visit the CWD page on the TPWD website. The discovery of CWD in Gillespie County makes it the most recent county added to the list.
Testing for CWD allows wildlife biologists and animal health officials to get a clearer picture of the prevalence and distribution of the disease across Texas. Proactive monitoring improves the state’s response time to a CWD detection and can greatly reduce the risk of the disease further spreading to neighboring captive and free-ranging populations. With each discovery of a new CWD positive area in the state, CWD zones are established as a strategy to manage and contain the disease. TPWD officials will be working towards delineating and establishing a new zone in Gillespie County to be implemented later this fall.