L.A. County Supervisors against use of helicopters to cull Catalina Island deer population

A bold and controversial plan to eliminate the invasive mule deer species on Catalina Island has drawn the ire of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors.

On Tuesday, the Board voted unanimously in favor of a motion presented by Supervisor Janice Hahn which expresses its opposition to the plan to eradicate the deer population through the use of “helicopter-mounted sharpshooters.”

Hahn, whose district includes Catalina Island, said she’s heard from constituents on and off the island who oppose the plan proposed by the Catalina Island Conservancy.

“I understand the Conservancy’s concerns with the impact of the deer population, but I disagree that shooting hundreds of animals from helicopters is the right solution,” Hahn said, calling the plan “extreme” and asking the organization to reconsider alternatives.

Alternatives have included relocation, extending the deer hunting season and even sterilization, Hahn said.

Wildlife officials have said that the mule deer on Catalina Island are invasive and have overgrazed and destroyed native plant species and competed with endemic animals, threatening the delicate balance of the island ecosystem. They don’t have a natural predator on the island, allowing for their population to grow unchecked, aside from the annual hunting season.

Deer were introduced to Catalina Island in the 1930s specifically to create a desirable hunting destination. Now the island’s deer population is eight to 10 times the density of the mainland, the Conservancy said.

It’s estimated that as many as 2,000 deer currently live on Catalina Island, and the Conservancy, the nonprofit organization tasked with restoring the island’s natural splendor, has said the animals need to be removed from the island lest the habitat be permanently altered.

The conservancy told the Los Angeles Times it would be hiring sharpshooters from a Connecticut nonprofit organization that will use semi-automatic rifles to hunt the deer from above. The deer carcasses will be left behind to decompose because removal is nearly impossible due to the treacherous terrain.

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Residents of Catalina Island have voiced displeasure with the plan, with many saying they would prefer the deer population either be simply thinned or left alone entirely.

An online petition to stop the helicopter plan has garnered more than 90,000 signatures as of Tuesday morning.

But the Conservancy has insisted that the island’s natural species, many of which are endangered, are of higher importance than the invasive deer. The Catalina Island fox, the Catalina California quail, the Santa Catalina Island shrew and other unique animals have been forced to compete with the mule deer and are at significant disadvantage for survival.

The use of helicopters to hunt invasive species isn’t even a new phenomenon on Catalina Island. Goats and pigs were also found on the island at one point in time, but have since been eradicated after hunters on land and in the air killed them off throughout the 1990s.

Removing invasive species from isolated islands off the coast of California is a proven method for restoring the habitat to its natural form. Feral pigs once roamed the Channel Islands off the coast of Ventura County, attracting golden eagles from the mainland which feasted on the island’s endangered foxes, nearly driving the species to extinction.

When the feral pigs and golden eagles were removed from the islands, and native bald eagles were reintroduced, the island fox population and the island itself began to recover. Those pigs were hunted by helicopter too, and that plan also faced opposition from animal activists. But now, the Channel Islands recovery is considered by the National Park Service to be a historic conservation success story.

The Board of Supervisors insists it’s not in favor of doing nothing about the deer population, rather it simply wants the Catalina Island Conservancy to go back to the drawing board to find a less controversial strategy for 2024.

The Board says it will send a letter to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife voicing its opposition to the plan and urging the agency to reject the Conservancy’s permit application.

“Through this letter, the Board will advocate for the permit to be denied and if it is, the Conservancy will be forced to continue to work on an alternative solution that could be more widely accepted and supported,” Hahn said.

If those permits are approved, open season on the deer could begin next fall.

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