Last fall, the Catalina Island Conservancy announced a bold and ambitious plan to eliminate the island’s invasive black-tailed deer population by hiring helicopter hunters armed with high-powered rifles.
But the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors chose a different description, condemning the proposal in objection letter Inhumane and intense.
Janice Hahn, the superintendent of the district that includes Santa Catalina Island, drafted the response, saying she was motivated by the public outcry after the aerial shooting proposal became public.
According to the sanctuary, the number of exotic black-tailed deer on the island ranges from 500 to 1,800. The deer destroy natural habitats, including the island’s unique native vegetation, exacerbating the risk of soil erosion in grazing areas.
When this happens, the deer themselves starve and die of thirst.
Conservancy CEO Whitney LaTorre told The Times in an interview last fall that both the islands and the deer were fighting for survival, but neither was winning. Unless we solve the deer problem, the islands will become increasingly vulnerable to the devastating consequences of rising temperatures and drought.
read more:To rid Catalina Island of invasive deer, officials propose daring helicopter hunt
Hahn, however, called on the conservancy to reconsider other options it had previously studied and rejected. The reserve manages nearly 90% of the island.
A Hahn spokesman said the supervisor had no specific preference for alternatives but asked the organization to reconsider neutering, relocating or extending the hunting season.
The Board of Supervisors voted unanimously Tuesday to send a letter to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife expressing its objections. The agency has the authority to approve or deny the conservation agency’s permit application for deer removal, originally submitted in August 2023.
If approved, the permit would allow a protected area to remove non-native, invasive or nuisance wildlife to improve or restore ecosystem or habitat conditions, an agency spokesman confirmed.
read more:Catalina Deer in the Crosshairs: Can Compromise Prevent Planned Massacre?
Fish and Wildlife spokesman Tim Daly said the review process typically takes 100 days. However, Daly said the department had not yet ruled on the application because it had been waiting for the conservation agency to submit additional requested documents.
The conservancy did not respond to a request for comment.
The conservation group previously said it planned to hire sharpshooters from Connecticut nonprofit White Buffalo Inc.
Some bodies will be left where they fell, while those closer to Avalon and roadsides will be removed.
Black-tailed deer were introduced to the island in the 1930s as game animals. According to the Nature Conservancy.
The conservancy reviewed six potential deer removal plans, including fencing, aerial shooting, recreational hunting, introduction of natural predators, relocation and sterilization and the use of chemical contraceptives.
Each option was evaluated based on seven values, including minimizing impact on ecology and deer suffering, team safety and speed of completion.
Grades range from poor to excellent. Aerial shooting is the only option to get at least good points on seven values, with fencing and hunting getting four fair designations or higher.
According to the Conservancy, aerial shooting is ranked as the first choice because it can effectively eliminate large numbers of deer in a short period of time.
Major disadvantages include the loud sound of gunfire, which can cause distress to wildlife and local residents.
read more:Catalina Island’s plan to kill deer sparks protests
By comparison, fencing is considered costly and challenging given the island’s topography, while recreational hunting itself is often ineffective, the association found.
Over the past few months, however, opposition to aerial hunting has grown.
The advocacy group Save Catalina Island Deer Alliance has collected more than The petition has 18,000 signatures since September 23 Object to this concept.
The group said there was no meaningful public process for discussing the proposal and viewed aerial shooting as an inhumane tactic. Both the league and Hahn said the shooting was extreme.
Nature Conservancy Host a community forum After the petition was published on January 31, several conservation issues were discussed, including deer numbers.
However, Bernd Blossey, a professor of natural resources and environment at Cornell University, said the idea is not new.
Blossi, who is also chairman of the university’s deer management program, pointed to the aerial shooting campaign to eliminate the university’s feral goats. Galapagos Islands and in New Zealand early this century.
read more:To rid Catalina Island of invasive deer, officials propose daring helicopter hunt
When people ask if something is normal, I respond, how do you define normal? Brosi said. In the case of Catalina, an island like the Galapagos and New Zealand, using helicopters or planes to shoot unwanted animals is standard operating procedure.
Blossi agrees that calling for the animals to be relocated, as some conservationists hope, could do more harm than good.
Capturing and transporting are painful, and the success rate for both is low, he said. Then they are moved to areas they don’t know, which is not a good thing.
Blossi also said he didn’t want to sugarcoat the aerial shooting because he said the fatality rate would have been high, especially early in the process.
You might get a few hundred deer the first week, he said, because the deer aren’t used to this tactic and won’t have any defense.
If approved, the hunt could begin in the fall.
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This story originally appeared in the Los Angeles Times.
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