Last fall, Catalina Island announced that it would cull over 2,000 mule deer using aerial sharpshooters, angering both animal activists and hunters. As GOHUNT previously reported, the Southern California island considers mule deer invasive and believes that the 76-square-mile ecosystem is threatened because of them.

The Catalina Island Conservancy, which is the nonprofit that owns 88% of the island, came up with the idea of an aerial cull, partnering with White Buffalo Inc., another nonprofit that “employs hunters ‘to help preserve native species and ecosystems.’” 

However, due to protests and petitions from Catalina residents calling the proposal “shocking and inhumane,” the conservancy has opted to kill the planned helicopter cull. However, island officials are still looking at other ways to remove the plethora of mule deer that is “ravaging native plants, hurting the ecology of the island and making it highly susceptible to fires,” according to the Seattle Times.

“We’re still dedicated to doing this — we have to remove these deer in order to restore Catalina Island,” said LLauren Dennhardt, the lead conservationist on the island. “We know that, out of any conservation action that should happen in California, this is the one that’s going to have the greatest biodiversity impact. So we’re dedicated to getting it done, even if the path bends and weaves a little bit.”

Mule deer were introduced to the island about a century ago for residents to hunt. They have no natural predators on the island, and numbers are considered unsustainable. Dennhardt said that certain options don’t work, such as relocating all of them or sterilizing them to limit population growth. Additionally, introducing other non-native animals to the island to keep deer numbers in check, like mountain lions or coyotes, “would not be smart either.”

This leaves the conservancy with two viable options: either fencing off a portion of the island so the deer can roam away from “precious plants” or introducing recreational hunting. While hunting is allowed on the island, to date, hunters only kill about 200 deer a year, which is too few to help with the overpopulation, according to the Seattle Times. 

So far, no real decisions have been made aside from putting a stop to the aerial cull proposal.

“I appreciate the conservancy for listening to the serious concerns people had about this plan, especially from people living on the island,” said Supervisor Janice Hahn in a statement. “I heard from residents who were terrified at the thought of bullets raining down from helicopters over their beloved island and others who couldn’t stand the thought of the deer carcasses that would be left in their wake. I am hopeful that the next plan that the conservancy puts forward can earn more widespread support.”