Texas wildlife officials killed 249 captive deer on a private ranch last week, ending a long-running challenge in recent years to the state’s policy of euthanizing breeder-cultivated deer herds infected with chronic wasting disease (CWD).
The deer were killed at RW Trophy Ranch, a 1,500-acre business near Terrell, Texas, owned by Robert Williams.
In 2021 one of Williams’ deer had tested positive for CWD and he reported the incident. That began a months-long battle between the rancher and the state over a management plan to contain and stop any outbreak.
But, according to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, the disease spread which increased the threat to the state’s deer population. By April 2022, according to the Star-Telegram, eight deer had tested positive for CWD at RW Trophy Ranch. Around that time, the state ordered all deer to be killed, either by euthanasia or at night by gunfire.
Williams objected and sued the Texas Animal Health Commission and Texas Parks & Wildlife in January 2022. By the time the case had wound its way through Houston’s 14th Court of Appeals and finally the State Supreme Court, 208 positive CWD cases had been reported at the ranch.
Williams fought the order by suing the state, and specifically the Texas Animal Health Commission and Texas Parks & Wildlife Department (TPWD). The lawsuit lasted two years and reached the Texas Supreme Court after the Houston 14th Court of Appeals in February 2024 upheld the state’s decision. In April, the Star-Telegram reported that the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the state, allowing the depopulation to be carried out. By then, 208 positive CWD cases had been reported at the ranch.
The state is still waiting for test results showing how many of the 249 deer euthanized at RW Trophy Ranch had been infected with CWD.
CWD is a neurological disease that slowly kills captive deer with visible symptoms not typically showing until close to death. Since 2012, TPWD has reported 795 positive, confirmed cases in deer statewide. Researchers have found no evidence that CWD could be a threat to humans, but the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advises individuals not to eat meat from CWD-positive animals.
