CRPA On Catalina Island Deer Eradication Plan
As the proposed plan of how Catalina Island officials will eradicate the island’s invasive mule deer, whether or not the process will still include utilizing helicopters and sharpshooters is still in doubt. While news broke earlier this year that that idea was apparently was blocked, but according to the California Rifle and Pistol Association, it could still be in the cards.
Here’s the CRPA with more:
As an island, Catalina’s ecosystem requires careful management to remain in balance. In the minds of Conservancy leaders, the mule deer are a threat to plant populations and there certainly are some plant species that are struggling. But even if you accept that the deer are to blame, slaughtering hundreds of these majestic animals from helicopters is grotesque.
Are the deer really to blame? What other forces may be at work behind the scenes? Is anyone actually “following the science”? To update the status of this issue and provide a different perspective on the island’s ecosystem, CRPA Legislative Director Rick Travis joins host Kevin Small for an insightful interview.
You can watch that interview in the tweet above or here on YouTube:
CRPW legislative director Rick Travis had this to say:
“There has definitely been a position taken by the Catalina Island Conservancy. And at the beginning it seemed to be from their perspective all science-based. I don’t see it that way anymore. I see a lot of other casualties.”
“There’s been a lot of rhetoric about the deer causing all of the current erosion on the island. That’s not true; erosion has been caused for a long time on the island. There’s a lot of rhetoric that the conservancy is trying to return the island back to its natural state before humans made a mistake… There’s been a lot of damage (done) there made by humans.”
In May, the Catalina Island Conservancy had this to say about what it might do going forward:
“Although experts have clearly stated that aerial hunting is the most efficient and humane method for removing mule deer in these situations, we are revising our plan to prioritize alternative methods for deer removal.”
“It will take time to revise the plan effectively as we collaborate with our partners and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, the permitting agency for removing the invasive mule deer. In the meantime, we will proceed with a ground hunting season.”
