Armed “ground-based specialists” are being allowed to kill off the mule deer population on Catalina Island with permission granted by California’s Department of Fish and Wildlife.
\n\nMeeteater.com noted that the eradication, dubbed the Catalina Island Restoration Project, is designed to occur over a number of years and is promoted by “a nonprofit called the [Santa] Catalina Island Conservancy, which owns 42,000 acres on Catalina—about 80% of the total island.”
\n\nA summary of the plan, published by the California Fish and Wildlife, says, in part:
\n\nThe Project will conserve, restore, protect, enhance, and assist in the recovery of California native wildlife, and the habitat upon which they depend. Mule deer are native to most of the state of California but were historically absent from Catalina and the other Channel Islands. Mule deer were intentionally introduced to Catalina in the 1920s. These introduced mule deer on Catalina have reduced Catalina rare and endemic vegetation cover due to mule deer selectively browsing on rare and endemic plants. This allows invasive plant species an opportunity to outcompete these rare and endemic plant species and contributes to habitat type conversion across Catalina.
\n\nThe eradication of the mule deer population is occurring in various stages, with…
Original source: https://www.breitbart.com/sports/
