Jeers to the Catalina Island Conservancy for announcing they’re going to begin their project to “eradicate” the mule deer on Catalina Island, some 2,000 strong.

The Conservancy, a nonprofit charged with stewarding the island, is killing the deer as part of an effort to “restore natural ecosystems,” among other things.

The only thing unnatural about this whole calamity, though, is gunning down 2,000 deer. Deer who were brought to Catalina Island by humans in the first place, and who’ve called it home for nearly a century.

Friends of Animals sounded the alarm earlier this year when we encouraged our members to reach out to the Conservancy directly, as well as to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife’s South Coast Region Office. We asked our members to express their vehement opposition to this ludicrous plan.

The Conservancy, sadly, couldn’t be swayed; their hearts were set on needless bloodshed.

It shouldn’t come as a surprise. The Conservancy’s track record speaks for itself: in 2023, their plan to use helicopter-mounted guns to slaughter the island’s deer was met with fierce backlash. The aerial assault was shot down when the LA County of Board Supervisors unanimously opposed in 2024.

Land-based eradication is, apparently, acceptable to officials, as this plan officially moving forward.

Friends of Animals knows, though, whether the bullets come from a bush or a Blackhawk, the deer are doomed to the same unnatural end: they’re killed one by one until they’re gone forever.

Jeers to the Conservancy for moving ahead with such an apocalyptic project.