SAN ANTONIO – The Medina County deer breeder whose white-tailed deer was found to be the first case of chronic wasting disease in the state wants to work with the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department and Texas Animal Health Commission to tackle the problem.
Texas Mountain Ranch owner Robert Patterson said he found the dead deer in a pen with numerous others with its head stuck under a trough. He immediately sent it to a veterinarian for testing and it came back positive for CWD.
Patterson, and hundreds of other breeders, attended a special Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission meeting to hear possibilities to minimize further risk to wild and other captive deer.
At the end of the meeting, the commission recommended staff further test the affected herd, figure out a way to move deer from unaffected herds across the state and protect native whitetail.
"We drew the black bean and that's a tough deal, but in a way I'm glad, because I think we can take care of it," Patterson said. "I don't think it will hurt the hunting in Texas one cent. People are still going to come here, because the deer are available."
Patterson said state agencies want to slaughter 139 adult deer and 99 fawns from his ranch July 20 to test for CWD. When KSAT asked Parks and Wildlife Department spokesman Steve Lightfoot if that was true, he said he didn't know if that was the correct number.
Not only does Patterson not believe slaughter is the answer to the problem, he said he's sent nearly 900 deer to 147 facilities across the state. He wants to know when the slaughter will stop, if it starts.
"At some point in time, common sense has to prevail and you have to use science to fight it," Patterson said.
Breeders are now worried about their ability to move deer across the state.
"It's not about deer and deer hunting. It's about people and their livelihoods in rural communities," Karl Kinsel of the Texas Deer Association said.
Commission Chairman Dan Allen Hughes Jr. told KSAT the affected herd will be tested using both live and postmortem techniques. Hughes said he doesn't believe there will be any restrictions placed on deer hunting this season because of CWD.