Written by HLRBO Staff|
Last updated
Catalina Island is home to an estimated 2,000 mule deer that live in isolation and have grown well beyond what land managers consider sustainable.
Introduced nearly a century ago and embraced by many residents and visitors, the animals now sit at the center of a controversial eradication plan, titled “Operation Protect Catalina Island.”
If approved, the plan aims to eliminate the island’s deer population over a five-year period primarily through a commercial hunting operation. The scale and implications of that effort are examined in “Killing Catalina,” a documentary that premiered this week.
Directed by Charles Whitwam, the film traces the controversy over the past few years as the island’s Conservancy group moved from a premise of population management toward a stated goal of zero deer.
The Conservancy, which manages a large percentage of the 48,000-acre island southwest of Los Angeles, argues the deer are a nonnative species causing "watershed-level" damage. Officials say overgrazing has degraded native vegetation and increased wildfire risk by allowing flammable invasive grasses to spread.
Opposition to the “zero deer” initiative has mobilized to record levels, with a petition drawing thousands of signatures.
Check out “Killing Catalina” for a look at the situation, which pits the pro-deer voices against local conservationists looking to protect the island’s ecosystem. The final decision now rests with state wildlife officials as Catalina Island weighs its most contentious environmental crossroads in a century.
