Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission has directed Texas Parks and Wildlife Department Executive Director Carter Smith to establish two new chronic wasting disease (CWD) surveillance zones located primarily in Gillespie and Limestone counties. The two new surveillance zones went into effect prior to the start of the general hunting season Nov. 5.
TPWD developed the zones following the detection of CWD earlier this year in a deer breeding facility located in Gillespie County and a deer breeding facility located in Limestone County.
Surveillance zones cover areas where the presence of CWD could reasonably be expected and enhance efforts to monitor and contain disease spread. Surveillance zone rules require hunters who harvest mule deer or white-tailed deer within the zone to bring their animals to a TPWD check station within 48 hours of harvest. Hunters must check each animal harvested and receive a CWD receipt before taking any part of that animal, including meat or quartered parts, from the zone.
“Testing for CWD allows wildlife biologists and animal health officials to get a clearer picture of the prevalence and distribution of the disease in those areas,” said John Silovsky, Wildlife Division director. “Proactive monitoring improves the state’s response time to a CWD detection and can greatly reduce the risk of the disease spreading further to neighboring captive and free-ranging populations.”
The surveillance zone located primarily in northwest Gillespie County encompasses 117,282 acres and includes parts of Kimble and Mason counties.
TPWD will establish two check stations – one in the city park in Harper, and the other on the grounds of the community center in Doss – along with self-serve drop boxes.
The surveillance zone located primarily in northern Limestone County encompasses 118,687 acres and includes parts of two other counties – Navarro and Hill – allowing access to a processor in Hubbard and a check station in Coolidge.
Hunters can find maps of these and other zones, along with locations and hours of check stations and self-serve drop boxes, on the TPWD website.
TPWD encourages hunters outside established surveillance and containment zones to voluntarily submit their harvest for testing at a check station, for free, before heading home from the field. Hunters who harvest a CWD-susceptible species outside a CWD zone and wish to have the animal tested should contact their local TPWD wildlife biologist.
To date, the risk of CWD transmitting to humans appears to be low; however, as a precaution, public health authorities recommend not consuming meat from infected animals.