California officials approve plan to shoot mule deer on Catalina Island to restore native habitat

Catalina Island conservationists are moving forward with an extensive plan to preserve the island's native habitat after the state recently approved the lethal shooting of the invasive mule deer on the island.

The California Department of Fish and Wildlife approved the Catalina Island Conservancy's restoration management permit in late January.

 "The permit clears the way for restoration work the island has needed for decades, and it allows us to take action at a transformative scale," Lauren Dennhardt, senior director of conservation for the Catalina Island Conservancy, said in a news release.

Mule deer were introduced to the island in the early 1920s as a game species for hunting by the state. Island conservationists say the deer, which fluctuate in numbers between 500 and 1,800, have no natural predators and are destroying native vegetation found only on the island. They also say deer on the island are suffering from thirst and starvation, as they are much smaller than those living on the mainland.

The conservancy's plan to shoot the deer from the air, using helicopters, was shut down in 2024 after residents voiced concerns of bullets raining down and rotting deer carcasses that would be left behind.

Alternative plans to control the island's mule deer population included fencing them in, relocating the deer, introducing predators and sterilization.

After weighing the pros and cons of each method, the state chose to move forward with a multi-year lethal deer removal plan, with ground-based specialists using rifles "in controlled operations under strict safety protocols."

Harvested meat will be provided to the California Condor Recovery Program to support the endangered birds, and a final locals-only, recreational hunting season will occur in fall 2026.

The state's permit approval supports Operation Protect Catalina Island, the conservancy's multi-decade island restoration plan that combines conservation initiatives, habitat restoration and wildfire prevention under one coordinated effort.

"The evidence of the severity of the threat the deer pose is overwhelming, and all other alternatives have been exhausted," said Scott Morrison, director of conservation and science for The Nature Conservancy in California.

"Catalina Island can have either a functional, biodiverse and resilient ecosystem or it can have deer. It cannot have both."