California judge clears way for culling of nearly all Catalina Island's 2,000 mule deer
A county judge denied a preliminary injunction this week, allowing the Catalina Island Conservancy to proceed with a five-year plan to eliminate the island's non-native deer population to protect native vegetation and reduce wildfire risk.
What happened
On Thursday, a Los Angeles County judge issued a final ruling denying an injunction sought by opponents of the deer culling, clearing legal obstacles for the Catalina Island Conservancy to move forward. The conservancy, which controls 88% of the island, plans a five-year elimination program beginning with an estimated 200 deer to be hunted with rifles over the next two months. Island residents will be permitted one final hunting season from late October to mid-December 2024. The deer were introduced to the island by hunters roughly a century ago for sport; the population, which began at a few animals, has grown to approximately 2,000 and has remained stable despite periodic droughts. The meat from killed deer will be donated to the California condor recovery program or local tribal groups, with carcasses near trails and roads removed while those in steep terrain will decompose naturally.
Context
The culling addresses an ecological problem: the non-native mule deer consume native shrubs that are already stressed by climate change, preventing their regeneration and creating conditions for local extinction. As native vegetation declines, invasive grasses proliferate—species that ignite and spread fire faster than natives. This intensifies wildfire risk in a region experiencing increasingly dangerous fire seasons. Plant biologist Anna L. Jacobsen documented this relationship after the island's 2006-2007 fires. The conservancy explored alternatives including contraception and sterilization (deemed infeasible for such a large population), fencing (rejected as unapprovable), and continued hunting seasons (ineffective over four decades), before concluding total removal was necessary. The California Department of Fish and Wildlife approved the restoration management permit in January; only a small population near the town of Avalon will be sterilized. The decision creates tension between public attachment to the visible deer population and the ecological and fire-management science supporting removal.
What's disputed
Opposition to the culling has been fierce, with an online petition garnering over 32,000 signatures and an unusual coalition of animal activists and hunters filing legal challenges. Los Angeles County Supervisor Janice Hahn asked Governor Gavin Newsom to intervene earlier in the week. However, the sourcing does not report substantive scientific dispute over the ecological problem or the effectiveness of culling as a solution—experts statewide have expressed support for the proposal, and wildfire specialist Max Moritz stated that from a scientific, ecological, and fire perspective, removal is the best approach. The dispute appears primarily emotional and values-based rather than factual.