Responding to CWD Detections within a Deer Breeder Facility

In the unfortunate event CWD is detected in a captive deer breeding facility, TPWD has the responsibility to respond to the disease outbreak in that facility. Management of CWD in captive breeding facilities is primarily addressed through Disease Management Plans (DMP) developed by the department in conjunction with the facility owner. The department strives to work cooperatively with the facility owner to find practical, solution-oriented approaches to disease management. Describing the process for disease response in a captive breeding facility and the general options and elements of DMPs is helpful to provide clarity and understanding to facility owners as well as the public.

Timeline

1. Texas Veterinary Medical Diagnostic Lab (TVMDL) notifies appropriate TPWD Wildlife Division staff of a suspect CWD positive detection in a deer breeding facility.
2. TPWD staff contact the facility owner to inform them of the suspect results. That positive facility and all epidemiological-linked facilities are designated Not Movement Qualified (NMQ). This status change prohibits movement from the positive facility or facilities linked to the positive facility.
3. TVMDL will then submit the suspect positive samples to the National Veterinary Science Laboratory (NVSL) in Ames, Iowa for confirmation testing. NVSL is the only lab in the United States that is responsible for final confirmation of all CWD positive results.
4. Once results are returned from NVSL, TPWD staff inform the facility owner of those results (confirmed positive or not detected).
5. During these initial discussions TPWD staff inform the facility owner of TPWD regulations pertaining to CWD-positive detections in the facility and discuss options for managing CWD within the facility.
6. Options are incorporated into a Disease Management Plan developed between the Department and the facility owner. The goal is to use a practical, adaptive, and solution-oriented approach to manage CWD in positive deer breeding facilities while encouraging cooperation and engagement from the affected facility owner.

To assist facility owners in determining the best path forward, TPWD provides three primary options: Depopulation, Phased Depopulation and the Breeding Operation Plan. DMP's generally include a series of foundational elements as management actions for the DMP based on the option selected. An adaptive, solution-oriented approach to DMP's is necessary to account for unique and specific scenarios in CWD positive facilities. These foundational elements take into account the unique situation of each CWD positive facility, best management actions to mitigate disease risk, science, especially emerging technologies, as well as input from various stakeholders including the TPWD CWD Working Group. Any significant deviations from the foundational elements listed below would be vetted through TPWD executive leadership for direction and guidance.

Each of these primary CWD management options are outlined below along with the series of Foundational and Adaptive Elements of DMPs.

Option 1: Depopulation

Requires all deer in the facility to be euthanized and for the facility to close and discontinue the deer breeder permit. Indemnity through United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) may be available to the facility owner.

Option 2: Phased Depopulation

Requires all does and fawns in the entire facility to be euthanized and breeding to cease. May allow the release of bucks to an approved release site as bucks age up. Released bucks must be harvested and post-mortem tested in year of release. Facility must close and discontinue the deer breeder permit. Partial indemnity through USDA may be available to the facility owner.

Option 3: Breeding Operation Plan

Allows facility to retain deer with intent to return to Movement Qualified status once disease management plan requirements have been satisfied. May allow for release of bucks to an approved release site. Released bucks must be harvested and post-mortem tested in year of release. Any deer retained for breeding purposes must meet Genomically Estimated Breeding Value (GEBV) standards. All deer in that facility retained for breeding that do not meet the GEBV score threshold must be removed from the facility.

Foundational and Adaptive Elements of Disease Management Plans

Foundational elements of a Disease Management Plan (DMP) would generally include the following management actions:

• Initial whole herd ante-mortem (live-animal) test must be completed in the year of initial detection and prior to release of any buck, if allowed.
• Annual whole herd ante-mortem (live-animal) test required for all deer remaining in the facility.
• All bucks to be released would require a not-detected ante-mortem CWD test within 30 days prior to release.
• All deer in the pen with bucks to be released must also return a “Not Detected” test result within the previous 8 months.
• No buck would be allowed for release that returns a CWD positive test result or were in a pen with a deer that received a CWD positive test result.
• All deer in a pen that were exposed to a deer that received a CWD positive test result would be euthanized and post-mortem tested.
• All released bucks must be harvested within 90 days of release and post-mortem tested. All other deer harvested on the release site must be post-mortem tested for the duration of the disease management plan.
• Any release site utilized for release of bucks for harvest under the direction of a DMP would need to be approved by the department. These release sites would generally be limited to a release site adjacent to the CWD positive facility.
• All bucks released must have an additional ear tag capable of allowing the deer to be located (e.g. CERES tags, MicroTraks TrackTag, Lotek VHF ear tag series, etc.). There may be unique scenarios where normal TPWD tag requirements suffice (e.g. release of deer on an adjacent CWD positive release site in a CWD endemic area; release site is double fenced)
• Deer retained for breeding purposes must meet the GEBV score threshold.
• A fence-inspection of the release site must be completed by TPWD staff each year prior to release of any bucks.
• Adjacent property owners of the release site where bucks are released from a CWD positive deer breeding facility must be notified each year that a release occurs.