The Federal Rule governing the interstate movement of Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) susceptible species (whitetail deer, mule deer, elk, red deer, sika, and moose, and any of their hybrids) which went into effect December 2012, states that any cervid (deer) that is considered susceptible to Chronic Wasting Disease must be enrolled in the USDA/APHIS monitoring program in order to ship those species across state lines. Most states have now received their Herd Certification Program status which means they have rules in place that USDA/APHIS deems appropriate and meets the Federal CWD protocol. Texas is one of those states whose CWD program has been approved by USDA/APHIS.
Recently new requirements for the intrastate movement of elk, red deer, and sika were approved by the Texas Animal Health Commission. In this new regulation CWD testing is required to be movement qualified within the state. At this time 20% of all mortalities that occur during the capture of any one of the three above animals, currently under the jurisdiction of the Texas Animal Health Commission, must be tested by an accredited laboratory. The samples, which include the Obex or brain stem and the Retropharyngeal Lymph Nodes must be collected by an accredited veterinarian and sent to the Texas A&M Diagnostic Laboratory for testing. The Texas Animal Health Commission plans on training ranchers and hunting ranch operators in the collection of their own samples which will save the producer a tremendous amount of money.
There is a request to collect samples at the hunting ranches which will give a broader testing spectrum. This will be voluntary but there are those, across this state, that would like to see this become mandatory and if necessary become statute which is a law our industry does not need. We are asking our hunting ranch operators to voluntarily participate in this program and hopefully will provide enough samples that we can show voluntary participation will work.
The certification training will be scheduled in the near future.
For any more information please contact Charly Seale at the EWA office or Texas Animal Health Commissioner, Tommy Oates.
As usual thank you for your support in this very important issue.
