The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD), Texas Animal Health Commission (TAHC) and Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service have partnered to coordinate chronic wasting disease (CWD) postmortem sample collector trainings in the Panhandle and Trans-Pecos.
The trainings are part of the state’s increased CWD surveillance. Landowners and managers, taxidermists and veterinarians can train to collect tissues for disease testing under TAHC’s Certified CWD Postmortem Sample Collector training program.
The training will be a combination of classroom and hands-on training for sample collection. Trained individuals will then be able to sample harvested CWD susceptible species such as white-tailed deer, mule deer, elk, red deer, sika and others on their properties.
Trained individuals will also be able to sample harvested CWD susceptible species for other hunters and provide those samples to TPWD for CWD testing to meet mandatory testing requirements in the Panhandle and the Trans-Pecos CWD zones.
Individuals who participated last year must also attend this year’s training to receive necessary check station supplies.
Space is limited to the first 50 participants for each training and registration is mandatory to attend. Interested participants are urged to sign up as soon as possible.
Upcoming training classes will be held in:
Amarillo:
Sept. 26
AgriLife Extension Building
6500 W. Amarillo Blvd.
9 a.m.-Noon
Van Horn:
Nov. 18
Van Horn Convention Center
1801 W. Broadway St.
9 a.m.-noon
To sign up for a training, contact Laura Leal with TAHC at 512-650-0475 or laura.leal@tahc.texas.gov.
For more information about CWD, CWD management and new CWD regulations, visit www.tpwd.texas.gov/cwd and www.tahc.state.tx.us/animal_health/elk-deer.