Texas’ battle against deer disease threatens breeding industry

Under the shadows of tall post oak trees, two white-tailed deer snap their heads in high alert as John True tosses corn at them.

“They’re the most incredible animal that God created,” said True, a 49-year-old deer breeder who has been raising deer since 1998. True is a partner in the breeding operation at Big Rack Ranch, about 40 miles east of Dallas, which sells to ranchers who want to start or stock their own herds.

Inside the pen, the smaller of the two bucks is 3 years old — the typical age that True sells his deer. But he can’t sell any of his deer now because of a state quarantine aimed at containing a fast-spreading disease in Texas deer.

He is one of many Texas breeders who say their businesses are suffering due to chronic wasting disease, or CWD. True’s deer don’t have the disease, but it has infected deer owned by his neighbor, also a deer breeder. Under state rules, that means True can’t transport or sell his deer outside of the state-declared containment zone — and he says there are no potential customers inside that zone.

The disease, which is easily transmissible through urine, feces, saliva, and blood, has been detected in Texas deer since 2012. Last year saw 153 positive cases in the state, and the number of cases this year reached 387 in August, most of them from the outbreak at the property next to True’s.

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Texas Parks and Wildlife has detected CWD in 31 of Texas’ 254 counties and 34 captive breeding facilities.

Infected deer experience weight loss, uncoordinated movement, drooling and drooping ears — symptoms that often go unnoticed because they typically happen shortly before the animal dies. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the disease hasn’t been shown to infect humans, but the agency advises people not to eat animals with CWD.

Kip Adams, a wildlife biologist with the National Deer Association, said the disease gradually erodes the animal’s neurological functions.

“This disease is literally eating holes in the deer’s brain,” he said.

Deer are a cornerstone of Texas hunting. An estimated 4.7 million white-tailed deer live in Texas, according to TPWD, and hunting them is big business. A 2022 survey by Texas A&M University found that white-tailed deer hunters and the landowners who host hunters for a fee contribute $9.6 billion annually to the Texas economy. This year white-tailed deer hunting season starts on Sept. 28.

Texas is one of several states that allows deer raised in captivity to be released into the wild. Conservationists say that allowing deer from breeding facilities to co-mingle with wild deer is what contributes the most to the spread of the disease.

The state has a CWD management plan, which has stayed pretty much the same since it was adopted more than a decade ago.

Now as the number of CWD cases grows, TPWD is torn between trying to stop the spread and trying to help deer breeders who say the effort will put them out of business.

At a meeting of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission in August, landowners, breeders and conservationists lined up to express concerns about the spread of CWD and how the state is handling it.

Wildlife advocates urged the commission to resist pressure from deer breeders and ranchers and stick to their mission to manage and conserve the state’s natural resources. Several breeders complained about burdensome testing requirements and state quarantines that block them from selling or moving their deer.

Commissioner William Leslie Doggett said: “A lot of landowners feel as though they’re under siege here.”

Back at his ranch, True said he has a major decision to make: Close his business or continue another year with no substantial income. The state declared a containment zone inside Hunt County in 2021. Earlier this year, state employees euthanized hundreds of white-tailed deer at the breeding facility next door because some were infected with CWD.

“It’s the most trying time,” True said. “It’s suffocating.”

Texas allows deer hunting inside containment zones

CWD was first detected in a Colorado mule deer in 1967 and has since spread to 35 states.

The first case in Texas was recorded in 2012 in a wild mule deer in the Hueco Mountains of West Texas. Three years later, the disease was detected in a white-tailed deer in a deer breeding facility in Medina County, west of San Antonio. Since 2012, 87% of all Texas CWD cases have been recorded at breeding facilities.

Adams, the wildlife biologist, said the disease is mainly spread when breeders sell infected captive deer or when hunters transport an infected animal they’ve shot to a new area. Infected deer carcasses can contaminate the soil and water, unintentionally spreading the disease.

When the parks and wildlife agency adopted its most recent management plan in 2020 to try to slow the spread of CWD, it required all breeders to test all deer that die at the breeding facility or are moved offsite.

Under those rules, a positive test for CWD in a breeding pen results in the state creating a surveillance zone — which extends two miles around the pen. Breeders in surveillance zones can still move or sell deer as long as they meet the testing requirements.

If a deer that was not inside a breeder pen tests positive, the state creates a containment zone around the area. Breeders within a containment zone are prohibited from moving or selling their deer outside of that zone, limiting the clients breeders can sell to.

Texas currently has nine containment zones and 23 surveillance zones. The restrictions continue until TPWD determines that the spread of the disease has been mitigated. TPWD has lifted three surveillance zones, two in Uvalde County and another in Limestone County.

A positive test also triggers a state investigation by TPWD and the Texas Animal Health Commission to determine how many other deer may have been exposed to the disease and where they have been shipped. Experts say one deer with CWD can impact hundreds of other breeding facilities and ranches across the state if it’s moved and exposes other deer.

Breeders with a positive case are given the option to either euthanize their remaining deer herd or they can perform additional testing and keep deer that test negative if action is taken early enough to stop widespread infection.

If a breeder doesn’t agree to either option, state wildlife officials say they may have to euthanize the entire herd as a last resort. The agency may also issue a fine that can range from $25 to $500.

Deer hunting is still allowed in containment and surveillance zones, but hunters are required to test the deer before taking them home in some areas. TPWD has stations across the state where staff collect samples of deer harvested by hunters.

TPWD backs off adding new zones

Among breeders there’s been a growing distrust of the agency’s approach to managing the disease. In some cases breeders have refused to agree to rules, saying that following the state guidelines will put them out of business. They have also complained that being inside of one of the state’s zones will hurt their property values.

During the August Texas Parks and Wildlife meeting, agency staff proposed five new surveillance zones where deer had tested positive for CWD. Numerous breeders testified against the proposal at the meeting, and of the more than 1,000 comments entered online, 94% disagreed with the proposal.

Kevin Davis, executive director of the Texas Deer Association, which represents breeders, told the commissioners: “It’s probably time for us to go ahead and stop adopting new zones and just change the regulation altogether.”

Conservationists like Mary Pearl Meuth, president of the Texas Chapter of the Wildlife Society, defended the zones at the meeting.

“CWD is not only a problem for deer breeders, it is a problem for all Texans,” Meuth said, adding that the disease threatens rural economies as well as ecosystems by potentially reducing deer populations, disrupting food chains and transmitting CWD to other deer species.

In the end, a divided Parks and Wildlife Commission rejected the proposal. Now the staff must find alternatives to deliver to the commissioners by November.

Mitch Lockwood, a retired TPWD Big Game program director who was involved in CWD management until 2023, said the TPWD commission seems to be hesitant about keeping or adding zones, which he attributes to pressure from the deer breeding community.

“You hear at the commission meeting (commissioners) talking about commerce,” Lockwood said, adding, “the mission of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department doesn’t say anything about commerce.”

Meanwhile, a coalition of hunters, landowners and conservationists want the agency to further limit the movement of live deer from breeding facilities. If they are moved, they ask that the agency require a permanent visible identification on all deer released from captivity in order to quickly trace infected animals back to the breeding facility.

“We’ve gotten to a point now that we’ve got enough surveillance and containment zones that people are getting irritated with it, but the zones are just a symptom of the problem,” said Justin Dreibelbis, chief executive officer for Texas Wildlife Association and member of the coalition. “One of the most common sense things that we could possibly do is leave permanent, visible identification in any of those breeder deer that are moved around the state.”

Trying to breed out CWD

As state officials in Austin try to find solutions, breeders are looking for ways to survive by turning to genetics.

At Big Rack Ranch, True pulls out his phone and scrolls through a deer database, which lists more than 350,000 animals. The database was started by the nonprofit North American Deer Registry in 2007; True is one of its board members.

The database allows registered ranchers to trace the lineage and genetic makeup of deer through DNA testing. Research on CWD introduced so-called breeding values that help breeders identify deer that are more resistant to the disease than others — those deer can sell for higher prices.

True, like many other breeders, collects tissue, hair, blood and semen samples from his deer that are submitted to a lab for DNA testing.

“It gives us life,” True said about breeding for CWD resistant deer. “It gives us a way out.”

At the commission meeting in August, breeders reported killing animals without CWD resistance traits. True said he has euthanized seven of his deer with lower CWD resistance.

“The industry has evolved into wanting to be the tip of the spear in response to CWD by creating resistant deer,” said Davis, the Texas Deer Association director.

While this has offered breeders hope, conservationists argue that genetic adaptation takes multiple generations.

“It is not a deer management strategy for today, but for tomorrow,” said Meuth, the wildlife society Texas president.

Now that he can’t sell any deer because of the containment zone, True said his last remaining option to generate income is selling deer semen to other breeders.

But that’s not enough for the business that he’s spent 25 years building to survive, he said. So he’s waiting and hoping that the state will lift the restrictions so he can again sell his stock.

“I want to do this for the rest of my life,” he said.

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This story was originally published by The Texas Tribune and distributed through a partnership with The Associated Press.