AUSTIN – A case of chronic wasting disease (CWD) has been confirmed in Coleman County, marking the first detection in the county.
A two-year-old whitetail buck harvested by a hunter on a low-fenced property tested positive through sampling conducted voluntarily to assist with the state’s CWD surveillance.
CWD has an incubation period that can span years, so the first indication of the disease in a herd is often found through surveillance testing rather than observed clinical signs. Early detection and proactive monitoring improve the state’s response time to the detection of CWD and can greatly reduce the risk of further disease spread.
The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) encourages hunters to voluntary test hunter-harvested deer in the area between Coleman and Cross Plains. For more information about voluntary sampling contact, landowners should contact their local TPWD biologist.
For more on CWD, read the Texas Real Estate Research Center’s article, “Oh, Deer: Heading Off a Wildlife Epidemic.”