The Los Angeles County Superior Court recently denied a preliminary injunction that would prevent the slaughter of mule deer on Santa Catalina Island. The injunction would halt the eradication until a lawsuit challenging the plan, filed by Safari Club International (SCI), had time to resolve in court.
Instead, Californication has fully jumped the San Pedro Channel, landing squarely on Catalina Island and its unique hunting and conservation opportunity.
The Court’s failure to grant the motion for preliminary injunction instead allows for the continued implementation of the Catalina Island Conservancy’s plan to slaughter—completely eradicate—the island’s mule deer herd in the name of promoting native vegetation growth. That’s not very Cali-“Kumbaya” “Save the Whales” now is it?
Petitioning the Slaughter
Petitioners alleged that the California Department of Fish and Wildlife approved this project without the environmental review and public process required by law, thereby exceeding its authority. Halting the killing of mule deer while litigation proceeds is essential to protecting this public wildlife resource from irreparable injury before the legal questions are resolved.
“SCI is disheartened that the Court failed to take the vital steps needed to protect deer on Catalina Island until SCI’s lawsuit can be resolved,” said SCI CEO W. Laird Hamberlin. “Denying this motion does not answer whether the Department followed the law; it just means the mule deer may pay the price while that question is being litigated. SCI will continue to look at all available legal avenues to stop this senseless slaughter.”
“We are deeply disappointed by the Court’s decision. We believe the Court got the irreparable-harm analysis wrong and relied on factual premises that are not supported by, and in some instances are difficult to reconcile with, the record before it, including the Conservancy’s own documents,” said Melinda Benson, Attorney for the Coalition to Save Catalina Island Mule Deer. “As the petitioner organization whose members include people who live on Catalina and experience this Island every day, we also know that the harm cannot be reduced to a percentage of the deer population. Our members will hike these trails, camp in these places, encounter the aftermath of the killing, and live with the knowledge that animals treasured by this community are being systematically destroyed while the legality of the program remains unresolved. The ruling does not decide that the eradication program is lawful, and we will continue to pursue every available avenue to protect Catalina’s deer.”
Full Californication
Once these deer are slaughtered, there is no remedy that brings them back. There’s no putting the ecological toothpaste back into the tube. A denial of preliminary relief does not resolve the larger questions about how this project was approved or whether the required process was followed.
From FE’s perspective, it appears those in charge on Catalina Island, backed by an LA court, seek to prevent hunters from having a voice; to block them from seeking a legal remedy through the proper channels. Instead, the Conservancy would rather completely eradicate a species that has thrived there for a century.
Luckily, SCI remains in the fight, committed to preventing this irreversible decision from outrunning the law. For more info, visit safariclub.org.
