The Texas Animal Health Commission (TAHC) is asking Bandera, Medina and Uvalde County landowners, managers, hunters, processors, taxidermists, and veterinarians to assist with Texas’ Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) surveillance efforts by collecting CWD samples from species known to be susceptible to the neurological disease. These species include white-tailed deer, mule deer, elk, red deer, sika deer, blacktailed deer and moose.
By participating in the CWD sampling effort you are helping the TAHC and TPWD monitor prevalence and distribution in areas where CWD is known to exist in white-tailed deer. Your efforts will also assist the TAHC in assessing the risk and status of CWD in non-native susceptible species. The TAHC will consider the level of surveillance gained through voluntary testing in determining whether proposed mandatory surveillance regulations are necessary to protect susceptible species from contracting or spreading CWD.
You may participate by taking harvested animals to a CWD check station in your area for testing or by becoming a Certified CWD Postmortem Sample Collector, collecting samples from harvested animals, and taking those samples to a CWD check station. At this time, there is no charge for the Certified CWD Postmortem Sample Collector training or for testing CWD susceptible species at check stations. You may also send samples directly to Texas A&M Veterinary Medical Diagnostic Laboratory or another CWD approved lab, however, the costs for these tests will be the responsibility of the party submitting the sample.
For information regarding CWD Postmortem Sample Collector training please contact Ms. Laura Leal at (512) 719-0761.
For additional information regarding sample collection or to find a check station near you, please visit http://tpwd.texas.gov/huntwild/wild/diseases/cwd/.