California is moving ahead with a plan that would leave Santa Catalina Island without a single mule deer. The state's Department of Fish and Wildlife has approved a permit allowing the Catalina Island Conservancy to wipe out the roughly 1,800 deer over five years, largely by hiring shooters. In most areas of the island, marksmen can work at night and use helicopters, drones, and, later, dogs to locate the remaining animals, reports the Guardian. The Los Angeles Times expects 10 to 12 "trained professionals" to be in place as soon as September. Meat from the cull is slated for use in part by the California Condor Recovery Program.
Not all are aligned with the plan. An online petition titled "Stop the Slaughter of Mule Deer on Catalina Island" has drawn nearly 23,000 signatures. Los Angeles County Supervisor Janice Hahn wrote that the plan "disregards the deeply held values of many Catalina residents and visitors," saying deer—introduced as a game species in the 1920s—have become part of the island's identity over nearly a century. Many hunters agree. The deer have "provided a really great hunting opportunity in an area of Southern California where there's not a lot of big game hunting opportunities. So this is really important to us," said a lawyer representing Safari Club International.
But the nonprofit conservancy that manages 88% of the island argues the nonnative deer are stripping Catalina's vegetation. It says native plants evolved without deer and have few defenses; the result has been heavy grazing and an explosion of invasive grasses and increased wildfire risk. Removing the animals and replanting native flora is billed as key to restoring habitat for endangered species like the Catalina Island fox and a songbird called the Catalina Hutton's vireo, as well as the Catalina Island mountain mahogany, which the Times reports "may be the rarest tree in North America."
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