Court Clears Way for Catalina Island Conservancy to Kill Nearly All of Island’s Mule Deer

The Santa Catalina Island Conservancy has been granted permission by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife to carry out a multi-year effort to eliminate nearly all of the roughly 2,000 mule deer living on Catalina Island, after a Los Angeles County Superior Court judge declined to block the plan.

The conservancy, a nonprofit that owns about 42,000 acres on Catalina, roughly 80 percent of the island, is leading what is being called the Catalina Island Restoration Project. The effort will rely on what the state describes as armed “ground-based specialists” to carry out the deer removal over several years, using methods that change from year to year.

According to a summary of the plan published by California Fish and Wildlife, the first year will involve “professional shooting with bait/water sites” and “nocturnal ground shooting.” The second year is set to add “aerial net capture” and “ground shooting with detection dogs [and] helicopter support.”

Mule deer are native to most of California but were not originally found on Catalina or the other Channel Islands. They were intentionally brought to Catalina in the 1920s. State officials say the deer have since damaged the island’s ecosystem by selectively feeding on rare and endemic plants, which has allowed invasive species to spread and has contributed to broader changes in habitat across the island.

The state’s plan summary states: “The Project will conserve, restore, protect, enhance, and assist in the recovery of California native wildlife, and the habitat upon which they depend.”

In early August 2026, Safari Club International and other groups filed a request with the Los Angeles County Superior Court seeking to halt the eradication plan. That effort did not succeed. On September 3, 2026, a judge ruled in a way that allows the conservancy to proceed with killing nearly all of the island’s deer population.

The plan has drawn opposition from residents of Avalon, the island’s main town. Members of the Coalition Against the Slaughter of Catalina Deer, a group formed by local residents, have protested the plan, including demonstrations held as visitors arrived on the Catalina Express ferry.