Court Allows Killing of Catalina Island Mule Deer to Proceed Unchecked
Today, Safari Club International (SCI), the Coalition to Save Catalina Island Deer, and HOWL For Wildlife express their strong disappointment that the Los Angeles County Superior Court denied a preliminary injunction to prevent the slaughter of mule deer on Santa Catalina Island until their lawsuit challenging the eradication plan’s legality is resolved by the court.
The Court’s failure to grant the motion for preliminary injunction allows for the continued implementation of the Catalina Island Conservancy’s plan to eradicate the Island’s mule deer in the name of promoting native vegetation growth. Petitioners alleged that the California Department of Fish and Wildlife approved this project without the environmental review and public process required by law, 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.”
“We’re deeply disappointed, because once these deer are killed there is no remedy that can bring them back,” said Charles Whitwam, Founder of HOWL For Wildlife. “A denial of preliminary relief does not resolve the larger questions about how this project was approved or whether the required process was followed. We will continue fighting for those answers and for every available opportunity to prevent an irreversible decision from outrunning the law.”
