Catalina Island deer: Plan to use sharpshooters to eliminate mule deer sparks controversy

CATALINA ISLAND, Calif. - Both sides believe they want what's best for Catalina Island. On one hand, is the Island Conservancy, the nonprofit trust in charge of conservation and protecting the habitat of about nine-tenths of the island that is mostly wild. On the other side are residents, including animal rights activists and hunters who are outraged over plans to hire a company that uses biologist sharpshooters in helicopters to eliminate all the mule deer on the island.

"The deer have over-browsed the land, destroying natural habitat along with the vegetation that’s needed to help reduce wildfire risks and soil erosion," reads the Catalina Conservancy website. 

"Deer are part of the island, have been here for over a hundred years, and we need to find a better way to control the herd’s numbers," said the director of Catalina’s Humane Society.

A "Save the Deer" petition has already garnered over twelve thousand signatures, and organizers are using social media to spread the word. The deer’s numbers fluctuate, depending on the weather, between 500 and 2,000. Residents are allowed permits once a year to hunt the animals, under state guidelines. 

"We live off that meat," said one resident we spoke to, "and we could help keep the numbers down."

Conservancy biologists say that’s not the answer. Neither is more fencing or the biological birth control used on herd animals like the bison on the island. It’s not feasible, they say, to which residents respond with anger.

"It’s brutal, it’s wrong," we hear again and again from people calling the conservancy biologists everything from "eco-terrorists" to "Bambi killers."

Responding to pressure from upset residents, and fearing the publicity will affect the tourists the island depends on, the Avalon City Council just voted to prohibit the hunting and trapping of wild animals within city limits, where deer are often hanging out, foraging on people’s yards. That stops the Conservancy from baiting them away from populated areas, to the interior the conservancy controls, and kill them.

In an email to FOX 11, the Conservancy writes that "the City Ordinance is focused on the limited number of deer that are within the City limits, so its impact is minimal" and plans to continue with the plan, explaining they are trying to do this with minimal effect on the humans living on the island, but "it has to be done if we are to save Catalina."

"Not if we can help it," said the people behind the "Stop the Slaughter of Mule Deer on Catalina Island" petition. The hunt is planned for next year, but we will keep you updated on the progress.

For more information, you can visit Catalina Conservancy's website by clicking here.