Image: captive_whitetail

Dozens of suspects face numerous charges for involvement in an illegal deer breeding program. (Photo by Christopher J Barger)

Texas Game Wardens have uncovered a large network of offenders involved in an illegal deer breeding industry and black-market wildlife trade.

According to ksat.com, 22 suspects are facing approximately 1,200 pending charges across the state. Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) states during a previous investigation involving the illegal smuggling of captive whitetail deer, wardens discovered a larger network of alleged offenders.

A TWPD press release says the suspects and charges are associated with three deer breeding facilities, 10 release sites, a deer management pen and three illegal facilities not registered with the Texas Wildlife Information Management Services database.

The suspects face around 500 Class C charges, 700 Class B charges, 22 Class A charges, and multiple state jail felony charges, but the final number of charges may change as the investigation continues.

“These individuals and ranches operated with impunity, repeatedly violating established laws designed to protect Texas’s natural resources and safeguard the state’s wildlife against disease transmission,” said Col. Ronald VanderRoest, TPWD law enforcement director. “Systematic abuse of the regulatory framework governing the deer breeding industry will not be tolerated as we focus on our mission of conservation law enforcement.”

Texas has established science-based regulations and procedures in place to manage deer breeding in the state and prevent major disease outbreaks to ensure the long-term sustainability of native and captive deer in Texas.

VanderRoest said in the release that the suspects intentionally placed the state’s entire deer population at risk by bypassing requirements, disregarding regulations and falsifying official records.

Pending charges include the following:

* Transfer of deer without valid antemortem chronic wasting disease tests.

* Lack of identifying tattoos or valid transfer permits, failure to report mortality within the required seven-day period following detection and failure to submit CWD samples within seven days of collection.

* Illegal selling and purchasing wild white-tailed deer and hunting deer in a closed season to falsify and circumvent chronic wasting disease testing requirements by submitting samples from free-ranging wild white-tailed deer in place of breeder deer.

* Class A charges for taking white-tailed deer without landowner consent and for hunting exotic animals from a public roadway or right of way.

* Tamper of government records falsifying information in TWIMS reports, which were certified as accurate. These incidents include falsifying tests through the submission of tissue samples from poached wild deer for CWD testing in place of the samples of breeder deer, tag swapping between breeder deer, and swapping tags between breeder deer and replacement deer captured in the wild.

* Possession of wild deer in breeder facilities to replace dead breeder deer, multiple Trap, Transport and Transplant (TTT) permit violations and criminal mischief for the destruction of county and state property.

TTT charges stem from illegal trapping, transporting and transplanting of free-ranging white-tailed deer for release for hunting, trapping previously released wild deer and reselling them, illegal operation of unregistered facilities participating in the same TTT activities and the undocumented and unauthorized transportation and release of unidentified fawns.

“The hard work and commitment of our Texas Game Wardens to uncover these violations cannot be overstated,” said TPWD Executive Director David Yoskowitz. “Their pivotal role in conservation law enforcement helps ensure the health of all deer populations in the state. These violations don t just break the law they undermine the very foundation of responsible wildlife management in Texas.”