Mule Deer Slaughter Back On In Catalina?
For months now, we’ve continued to update you on plight of the Catalina Island mule deer. To combat what it finds to be an excessive population of the deer, the Catalina Conservancy has proffered a gruesome strategy: fly in snipers on helicopters to eradicate them.
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.