Anthrax had killed a cow, a kudu (a type of antelope), and a whitetail deer in Texas as of Aug. 10. Laboratory results confirmed the disease in the animals, which lived on three premises in Uvalde and Val Verde Counties in Southwest Texas.

Anthrax naturally occurs in Texas and other Great Plains states, and horses occasionally get the disease. The anthrax agent is a resilient spore-forming bacterium called Bacillus anthracis, which lives in the ground. Livestock ingest B. anthracis when they forage close to the ground during drought, or when they eat feed grown on infected soil. Horses seem to be more resistant to anthrax than other livestock species, such as sheep or cattle. Naturally occurring anthrax appears in Texas from late June through September and October, and outbreaks end with the start of cooler weather.

According to Bob Hillman, DVM, executive director of the Texas Animal Health Commission (TAHC), “Ranchers in the Uvalde and Val Verde County area are no strangers to naturally occurring anthrax, and this notice should not raise undue concern.

“Wherever an infected animal dies (of anthrax), the ground becomes contaminated with the spores unless the carcass and soil are burned with a very hot fire,” adds Hillman. “The spores do not spread underground, so it’s common to see death losses in one pasture, but not across the fence,” he says