Official Update from the TPWD Wildlife Permit Office

Your Source for Timely, Accurate Deer Permit Information

Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) Policy Regarding Automated Transfer of Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) Test Results from Texas A&M Veterinarian Medical Diagnostic Laboratory (TVMDL)

-Under the new CWD Management Rules, all CWD samples submitted to TVMDL by deer breeders and release site owners must be accompanied by an appropriate accession form generated via TWIMS.

-Tissue samples submitted to TVMDL that are not accompanied by the appropriate accession form lack required information and formatting to allow for the successful automatic transfer of test results to TWIMS.

-Thousands of CWD test samples have been submitted to TVMDL on improper accession forms that lack required information since the automated test result transfer process began in August 2016. In each of these cases, the test result information received via TWIMS has required individual review by TPWD staff to correctly associate the result with the appropriate facility and deer, which significantly delays TPWD’s ability to credit a facility for the testing performed.

-In many instances, TPWD has been unsuccessful in obtaining the required information from the deer breeder or release site owner, and as a result, hundreds of test results have not been processed months after initial receipt from TVMDL. All missing information can be attributed to use of the improper accession form.

Under new policy, if TPWD staff receives test results in TWIMS that lack sufficient information to identify the facility that submitted the sample, then those test results will be removed from TWIMS and it will be the responsibility of the deer breeder or release site owner to ensure a copy of the test report is submitted for the appropriate facility. If TPWD receives test results that identify the facility, but do not identify the deer that were tested, then TPWD will request the missing information from the deer breeder or release site owner. If no response is received within 30 days of an initial request for information required to process a CWD test result, the incomplete test result information received from TVMDL will be removed from TWIMS and it will be the responsibility of the deer breeder or release site owner to ensure a copy of the test report is submitted for the appropriate facility and deer.

Please note that all such problems addressed above will be avoided by use of the appropriate accession form, which is available via TWIMS.