The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department culled Robert Williams’ entire herd of 249 white-tailed deer. Williams, a captive deer breeder, has battled the disease for more than two years.
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- The Texas Supreme Court ruled eradicating the deer did not violate Robert Williams’ property rights.
It’s been more than three years since the first case of chronic wasting disease popped up on Robert Williams’ ranch in Hunt County.
The veteran rancher of more than 35 years breeds white-tailed deer on the 1,500-acre RW Trophy Ranch in Terrell — which recently saw an end to what state officials described as the largest known CWD outbreak the state of Texas “has ever seen.”
The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department culled the remainder of his white-tailed deer herd last week over a duration of eight hours. But for the 85-year-old, that wasn’t his ideal solution.
‘They were cruelly slaughtered’
For almost the same amount of time that Williams has battled the disease’s presence on his ranch, he’s also battled TPWD.
After more deer tested positive for CWD, also called “zombie deer disease,” the state initiated a kill-order which Williams rejected, court papers show.
In early 2022, he sued the state in an attempt to prevent the eradication of the animals he had a permit to breed, records show. He lost the case in court earlier this year as state’s attorneys argued that, under Texas law, the public owns all white-tailed deer in the state, including those held by private breeders.
The lawsuit made its way to the Texas Supreme Court after the Houston 14th Court of Appeals upheld the state’s decision earlier this year. The high court ruled eradicating the deer did not violate Williams’ property rights — ultimately leading to the mass eradication that occurred last week.
During the May 28 event, Williams had only 249 white-tailed deer left — most of which were killed via gunshot.
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When CWD was first detected in March 2021, RW Trophy Ranch reported 637 deer in its herd inventory, according to state officials. Of the 352 deer that died in the facility and have been tested for CWD since the initial detection, 254 tested positive with a prevalence rate of 72%, USA TODAY reported.
Williams told Outdoor Life Magazine that he pleaded with officials to run the deer through chutes, similar to the method used for cattle. Instead, they shot the deer as they ran back and forth in their pens, resulting in an eight-hour operation that included processing and disposing of the deer.
“They could have mercifully killed them, and I wouldn’t have felt quite as bad about it,” Williams told Magazine. “But they were cruelly slaughtered, and those deer went crazy. They bounced off the fence, ran into each other and broke each other’s legs. They were just so shot up. That’s what burns me.”
What is chronic wasting disease?
As described by the Centers for Disease Control, chronic wasting disease is a fatal neurological condition exclusive to cervid populations, including deer, elk, and moose.
First identified in a captive deer at a Colorado research facility in 1967, the first wild deer case emerged in 1981.
As of early May, according to the U.S. Geological Survey, it had been detected in deer in 34 states and five Canadian provinces.
What are symptoms of chronic wasting disease?
Chronic wasting disease in animals is termed the “zombie deer disease” as it leads to the following symptoms:
- Lack of coordination
- Weight loss
- Listlessness
- Drooling
- Stumbling
- Lack of fear of people
However, it could also take years for those visible symptoms to manifest, and the disease can only be confirmed through testing.
Can humans contract chronic wasting disease?
There have been no cases of chronic wasting disease in people to date, the CDC says. But it is still investigating the potential risks and advises people not to eat meat from animals that test positive for the disease.
Reported cases steadily increase in Texas
Since Jan. 1 TPWD has confirmed 198 cases, or about 25% of the 795 total cases since 2005, when the disease first arrived to Texas.
There are a number of reasons for increased case numbers, including more awareness, prompting increased sampling rates, as well as deer population growth.
What Texas counties have chronic wasting disease cases?
https://www.usatodaynetworkservice.com/tangstatic/html/naas/sf-q1a2z330306dc3.min.html
The disease has now spread to 30 counties in Texas, though Hunt, Uvalde and Medina counties have accumulated for more than 68% of the state’s total confirmed cases. Hunt leads at 255 cases, which does not include the recent mass culling. Counties include:
- Bexar
- Brooks
- Cherokee
- Coleman
- Dallam
- Duval
- Edwards
- El Paso
- Frisco
- Gillespie
- Gonzales
- Hamilton
- Hartley
- Hudspeth
- Hunt
- Kaufman
- Kimble
- Lavaca
- Limestone
- Lubbock
- Mason
- Matagorda
- Medina
- Oldham
- Real
- Sutton
- Uvalde
- Val Verde
- Washington
- Zavala
Exposing the Big Game 
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He wanted his deer humanely killed and they were not and it proved horrible for them….
Most people love to kill deep in their psyches, and poor wildlife is the easiest target because these ‘brave’ humans will have no repercussions for it. Very sad.
CWD is the fault of humans to begin with, and of course they will take the easiest route to remedy it, not the correct one.
I don’t know why they call it ‘zombie’ deer disease either – just call it the more professional sounding CWD?
We really have no respect for anyone but ourselves. I could call human overpopulation zombies too, which would be a little more accurate, but of course that would be met with outrage!