TPWD euthanizes research facility deer herd prior to confirmation by national lab

Just when you thought the story behind the discovery of chronic wasting disease in a penned deer at Texas Parks and Wildlife’s Kerr Wildlife Management Area’s 23-acre research facility couldn’t get any more unfortunate, it did. The good news is the 14-month old buck that tested “suspect positive” for CWD last fall was not infected with the disease after all. The bad news is TPWD staff opted to euthanize the facility’s entire research herd before the test results were confirmed by the National Veterinary Service Laboratory (NVSL) in Ames, Iowa.

Here’s what happened, according to TPWD reports:

Suspect Positive = Not Confirmed