Staff Report, Lone Star Outdoor News
**STORY UPDATED
Hunters near Del Rio and Lake Amistad will be taking their deer to a mandatory check station for the rest of the season.
A free-ranging, 5 1/2-year-old doe was dispatched by a Val Verde
County game warden in a residential subdivision between Del Rio
and Amistad Reservoir, according to Texas Parks and Wildlife Department’s wildlife veterinarian, Bob Dittmar. The deer was observed to have a large abscess and a broken jaw, and was sent for testing. The deer tested positive for Chronic Wasting Disease, making it the first confirmed case of the disease in Val Verde County.
The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department and Texas Animal Health Commission are implementing a containment strategy designed to limit the spread of CWD from the affected area.
Effective immediately under an executive order issued by TPWD Executive Director Carter Smith, a CWD Containment Zone and a CWD Surveillance Zone and all associated rules for the designations are in effect.
CWD Containment and Surveillance Zone rules include restrictions on the movements of carcass parts as well as live deer possessed under the authority of a permit. The department is also implementing mandatory CWD testing of deer harvested within the containment and surveillance zone within 48 hours of harvest at a new check station located at the RV park at the Del Rio Fisherman’s Headquarters located at 4957 US-90. The check station will remain open until Feb. 29.
According to the Texas Deer Association, there are no deer breeding or release site facilities within the proposed containment or surveillance zones.
