Home / Education / CWD Update from Texas Parks and Wildlife

CWD Update from Texas Parks and Wildlife

Efforts to contain Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) in Texas are proving fruitful. Hunters and landowners provided close to 13,000 samples in the last testing year, which ended in Feb. This far exceeds the target of 7,039 samples, and we thank you for your dedicated effort to help us defeat this disease in Texas.

Test results revealed 26 CWD-infected deer, plus 6 “suspect positives” that are being confirmed. CWD was discovered for the first time in Val Verde County, and plans have been developed to manage the disease in that area. All other new free-ranging positives were within existing containment zones.

We encourage you to continue to get your deer tested to help our biologists with statewide sampling efforts. Early detection is critical to managing and containing CWD in order to protect Texas deer.

CWD was first recognized in 1967 and discovered in Texas in 2012. Since then it has been detected in 169 white-tailed deer, red deer and mule deer in Dallam, El Paso, Hartley, Hudspeth, Kimble, Lavaca, Medina, Uvalde and Val Verde counties, 129 of which are connected to deer breeding facilities and release sites.

Top