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Wildlife officials are fielding criticism after killing dozens of white-tailed deer at an East Texas breeding farm to hedge against maladies like Chronic Wasting Disease and tuberculosis.

From the Lone Star Outdoor News:

Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) sharpshooters worked all day Monday Dec. 6 to kill the 71 deer at the Anderton Whitetail Ranch near Quinlan in Hunt County.

The operation was part of an ongoing criminal investigation of James Anderton and son, Jimmie, who are in prison after pleading guilty to multiple crimes, including violations of the Federal Lacey Act. The act outlaws the illegal transportation of deer across state lines.

The Anderton family has not provided documents confirming reports that the deer came from a state free of the diseases, said Steve Lightfoot, TPWD spokesman. The deer reportedly were brought in from Arkansas, which has not had any reports of CWD.

Still, people have complained, saying the agency overreached. Lightfoot said he received numerous calls and e-mails that he said were “pretty scathing.”

James Anderton’s wife, Sharon, said she was numbed by the experience.

“To me, it was just senseless,” she said the following day. “You come out here and start shooting … I won’t ever forget that.

“It just leaves you kind of shocked.”

Sharon Anderton said the family had tested deer from the herd and found no signs of CWD.

Lightfoot confirmed that tests were submitted from six deer at the ranch, and the results were negative for any diseases.

But the family still had not provided proof of origin for the deer, Lightfoot said.

“They could’ve come from anywhere,” he said.

Sharon Anderton said she had “no earthly idea” about those issues, although she tried for several months, unsuccessfully, to sue the state to stop the euthanization.

“I always said I wasn’t the deer breeder,” she said. “My husband and my son were the scientific deer breeders. I’m just the one who took care of (the deer) while they were gone.

“I was just the one who had the pleasure of seeing the fawns, and watching them grow up.”

Lightfoot said the deer had to be killed because tests for the diseases couldn’t be performed on live animals.

Lightfoot described the daylong operation as a “very well coordinated euthanization.”

The sharpshooters used small-caliber rifles, not legal for deer hunting, because officials were concerned about safety to surrounding property, Lightfoot said.

“All these deer were taken from 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.,” he said. “We’re talking 70 deer, two shooters, 8 hours. So it wasn’t a bam-bam-bam, going crazy.

“It was a very somber event, with people doing what they needed to do. To suggest they were shooting at random, that just was not true.”

He said the sharpshooters were both TPWD biologists. One rifle was chambered in .17 Hornet and the other fired a .22 Magnum.

He added that about 75 percent of the deer were downed with single shots to the heart, but more shooting was needed for the rest.

“Obviously, when you’re dealing with a small caliber, you have to make follow-up shots,” Lightfoot said. “Safety was a first concern; we don’t want a stray round hitting a neighbor’s cow or a house.”

There were five pens on the high-fence operation, some as big as 20 acres, Lightfoot said.

About 20 deer quickly were killed in a pen that had a squeeze chute, but the rest of the deer were in more open pens, which took longer.

The deer were buried in a pit on-site and the meat was not salvageable because of concerns of tuberculosis, Lightfoot said.

“We euthanize between 100 and 150 deer a year. For sure, sometimes it’s a couple dozen at a time. It’s not something we want to do, but we have to, to protect resources in the state.”

Sharon Anderton said she was informed about a week ago that game wardens and biologists were coming to euthanize the deer.

She said the men were polite to her, but they didn’t want her near the pens while the sharpshooters worked.

The deer included mature bucks, some bred does and yearling fawns.

She said TPWD indicated that they would take the brain stems, and she was left with headless deer. She said all she can do is put the incident behind her.

“There’s nothing I could do to change it,” she said. “I feel like, as far as the courts, I did everything I thought I could do.

“It just is what it is.”