California Island Moves Forward With Plan to Kill 200 Deer
A Los Angeles Superior Court judge last week tentatively denied a request from opponents to block the Catalina Island Conservancy's plan to eradicate the island's entire mule deer population. With that ruling, the conservancy — which controls 88% of Catalina — is moving forward. Roughly 200 deer will be killed in the first phase between now and October, with contracted professional hunters working on the ground over four to five years until the job is done.
Superior Court Judge Curtis A. Kin said there would be "no irreparable harm" in allowing the eradication to proceed while the underlying legal challenge works its way through the courts.
"The Catalina Island we know and love today exists because generations of people, including families who call the island home, made hard choices to protect it," the conservancy said.
Opponents didn't take the ruling quietly. More than 32,000 people have signed a petition against the plan. LA County Supervisor Janice Hahn, who represents Catalina, had personally asked Governor Gavin Newsom to intervene. Wildlife advocates, a coalition of concerned residents, and — in one of the more unusual alliances in recent California politics — hunting groups have sued together to stop it, arguing the plan violates the California Environmental Quality Act and was approved through a process that "ignored valid concerns raised by the public."
How the Deer Got There and Why They're a Problem
Mule deer aren't native to Catalina. They were brought to the island about a century ago for sport hunting. A few animals arrived. Decades with no natural predators followed. The population grew to an estimated 1,700 to 2,000 animals — though opponents say the conservancy's number is inflated, with island residents estimating the true population is closer to 400 to 800.
Wherever the actual count falls, the conservancy's argument is straightforward. Deer eat native shrubs. Native vegetation disappears. In its place, non-native grasses spread — dry, fast-burning fuel that makes the island increasingly vulnerable to wildfire. Native plants that exist nowhere else on Earth — including the Catalina Island mountain mahogany, potentially the rarest tree in North America — are being eaten out of existence. Conservationists have been wrapping individual native plants in makeshift cages just to keep them alive.
"Nobody wants to kill animals," the conservancy has said. But they argue there's no other option at this scale.
Why the Opposition Is So Unusual
This is where it gets interesting. The coalition fighting the plan isn't just animal rights activists — it includes hunters. The California Rifle and Pistol Association joined the lawsuit. That means groups that would normally be on opposite sides of wildlife policy have united against the conservancy's approach.
Part of the hunters' objection is philosophical — they see the deer as a legitimate game species and believe the hunting season approach could manage the population more humanely and usefully over time. Part of it is also that a final resident-only hunting season is being offered from late October through December 2026 before professional eradication begins in earnest — a gesture that critics say is too little, too late.
The conservancy previously considered helicopter shooting — then abandoned it after massive public and government backlash, including a unanimous rejection by the LA County Board of Supervisors. The current ground-based professional hunting plan is the compromise that replaced it. It satisfied regulators. It hasn't satisfied much of anyone else.
A small group of deer near the city of Avalon will be spared — sterilized and allowed to live out their days. The meat from killed animals will go to a California condor recovery program or local tribal communities, and carcasses near roads and trails will be removed. The legal challenge continues even as the first deer are being shot this fall.
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