Chronic Wasting Disease discovered at breeding facility in Gillespie County

Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) has been discovered in a deer breeding facility in Gillespie 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.

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 and indicated the presence of CWD. The National Veterinary Services Laboratory in Ames, Iowa confirmed CWD in those tissue samples.

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.