BAD BAMBI: Hunters Called to Shoot 2,400 “Destructive” Deer in Catalina

Clash DailyJune 10, 2014

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Boy, this great idea they had sure went south, eh? Now, who’s coming to fix what the animal lovers have disastrously spawned? Hunters: that’s who. Check it out from Outdoor Hub:

Although it may not look like it, the island of Santa Catalina in southern California was originally a barren rock. All wildlife now living on the island arrived over the ocean, and not all species are welcome. The Catalina Island Conservancy spent years removing invasive wildlife and preserving the island’s more traditional inhabitants—foxes, bald eagles, and plants that occur nowhere else in the world. The threats to the island’s delicate ecological balance are many, such as a herd of bison brought over in the early 20th century for a film shoot. Conservationists have removed thousands of non-native goats, pigs, and bison but now they face arguably their biggest challenge yet. There are 2,400 mule deer on the island, and it will be up to hunters to quell them.

Currently the mule deer population on Catalina is roughly over half that of the humans living on the island. Signs of their presence are obvious in the stripped saplings and other damage they leave behind. If left unchecked, the deer will eventually eat themselves into mass starvation and cripple the ecology of the island in the process.