For years, Robert Williams raised white-tailed deer on his ranch in Kaufman County, east of Dallas. He raised them to sell on trophy hunts. But when one of them tested positive for chronic wasting disease, the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department took steps to depopulate the breeding facilities, per agency policy.
Chronic wasting disease is a contagious neurological condition that has spread to several Texas deer farms in recent years. In late May, a three-year court battle between Williams and the state ended with the killing of nearly 250 deer by wildlife officials.
Austin-based HuffPost reporter Roque Planas spoke to Texas Standard about the case.
This transcript has been lightly edited for clarity:
Texas Standard: This fight between the State and Mr. Williams has gone on for a long time. What brought you to a head in May?
Roque Planas: Well, yes, as you mentioned, the battle had been going on for a long time. Robert Williams had been trying in court to establish some kind of property due process right that would allow him to prevent the state from killing the herd of deer he had raised.
That issue had long been settled legally, and the state’s lawyers always insisted they would eventually win. In April they got a ruling from the state Supreme Court to depopulate, and the legal dispute continued for a couple more months. But finally in May they managed to depopulate that herd.
How has this event affected you now?
Well, I think he’s quite emotionally affected. He has a great attachment to these deer that I don’t think people necessarily understand.
He has been working on this project for decades. And one of the deer they euthanized before Texas Parks and Wildlife got there was treated more like a pet and allowed into the house. Her daughter had bottle-fed some of these deer. Emotionally, he is taking a big hit.
From a business perspective, his business basically ended the moment CWD was found on the ranch. I mean, at that time he couldn’t sell deer for hunting. He could not sell deer to other breeders. His ability to act as a deer farmer, which is what his business was based on, ended at that point.
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But let’s consider what the state was worried about, because chronic wasting disease is similar to mad cow disease, only it affects animals like deer and elk. This can be hugely destructive. Is there broad agreement on the risks or not so much?
Generally speaking, conservation biologists view CWD as the biggest threat facing our country’s deer herds. The problem with CWD is that when it gets to an area it is very difficult to get it out.
There are not many success stories of wildlife managers who have managed to remove wildlife from an area once it is established; The name of the game is managing and containing. Above a certain prevalence, you will begin to see a decline in the deer population in that area, which many people fear.
And then there is the persistent fear; There is no evidence of this, but… that maybe one day it could spread to humans. That’s why the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that people not eat meat infected with CWD.
Is it clear how these deer contracted CWD in the first place?
No, it’s not. And there are some theories about that. In the case of Robert Williams, the herd was closed. It had been years since he had received deer from other properties. It’s really not known how it got there.
There’s been some speculation that maybe people can transmit the disease to prions through other dead bodies, their boots, things like that, and that maybe that’s how it’s reaching new areas.
There is also some theory that perhaps vultures feed on diseased prions and regurgitate them into the environment elsewhere. We really don’t know. It’s a question biologists are studying right now.
How do you see this case and its conclusion? Although we should mention that Mr. Williams plans to continue his legal battles here. How do you think this will impact how the state handles CWD and its impact on the industry as a whole?
I think we will continue to see the State favor depopulation as its primary way of dealing with new infections in breeding facilities. The fact of the matter is that the state’s mandate is to protect wild deer, and these breeding deer remain a small but very lucrative corner of the Texas hunting industry.
And Texas is in this unique position where wildlife like white-tailed deer are considered a public resource, but the state is allowing people like Robert Williams to raise those deer and then sell them to be hunted for profit, at prices that They can reach tens of thousands of dollars.
It’s an uncomfortable position, but ultimately the state still asserts its right to manage these deer as wildlife and depopulate ranches where the disease appears.
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