They Got To Be Kidding......

[Lawdog]

I picked this up off the net.

California Plan Would Eradicate Exotic Deer

POINT REYES STATION, CA--Originally introduced for hunting in the 1940s, fallow and axis deer are becoming somewhat of a nuisance at California's Point Reyes National Seashore. So much so that park rangers say they consider the deer to be an invasive species that are threatening native deer and elk and causing extensive damage to the park's vegetation.

In an effort to remedy the situation, Point Reyes officials have created a plan to eradicate the park's more than 1,000 nonnative deer by using shotguns and contraception. Meat from the animals would then be donated to local charities and food shelves.

The park's draft plan calls for sterilizing approximately one-fourth of the animals and shooting the rest. A final plan is expected to be released later this year or early next year, and could go into effect as early as 2006. The plan calls for all deer to be removed from the park by 2020.

In the past, park rangers had been allowed to use rifles to keep each herd's population at approximately 350 animals, but that stopped 10 years ago after an increased amount of public opposition to the killings. As a result, park officials say both populations have been allowed to repopulate with no natural predators to keep them in check. Officials say the park's fallow population increases an average 11 percent every year, while the axis population increases 20 percent annually.

Officials say it's not possible to eliminate the deer by contraception alone because they say it's almost impossible to sterilize every animal. Expense is another issue as contraception costs approximately $3,000 per animal, compared to $300 to shoot them.

This is just plain dumb.   :roll:   Why not hold drawings for tags like other big game animals and use the money for Point Reyes Park?   :idea:   Those that live out west should get a hold of the California Parks Department and let them know how you feel about this.  Lawdog
 

[longwinters]

Maybe they should bring some of our wolves from Michigan and let them loose over there  :lol:

Long

[Don Fischer]

Oregon had two wolves but I suspect they've died of lead ingestion by now, maybe california could use some mountain lions. Montana has a surplus!

[longwalker]

What a crying shame, I used to fly over that area back in the late 70's while in the Coast Guard. We could fly low and slow in those vintage HU16E flying boats. I can imagine what it must be like now with so many animals.

Once again the best intentions of the bleeding hearts has unintended consequences. When will people learn?

longwalker

[Lawdog]

Oregon had two wolves but I suspect they've died of lead ingestion by now, maybe california could use some mountain lions. Montana has a surplus!

There ARE Mountains Lions at Point Reyes.  Actually California could send Montana some of the over 20,000 Mountain Lions we have already.  Lawdog
 

[crow_feather]

Angel Island, in San Francisco Bay once had an overabundance of deer.  Due to public outrage, the deer were captured, instead of shot.  These 200 deer, who lived on an island and had never seen snow, mountain lions, cars, trains, coyotes, or any other predators were transported to the mountains and released.  Some were hit by cars, some starved to death in the snow, many got ate, a few got hit by trains.  By the end of one year, three of the two hundred were left.

May them bunny huggers sleep well!

C F