LOS ANGELES — A plan to kill all the mule deer on Catalina Island using aerial sharpshooters from helicopters was strongly opposed by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday.

The controversial program as proposed by the Catalina Island Conservancy aims to eradicate up to 2,000 deer on the island that the conservancy says are destroying the island’s native plants and animals and damaging the entire ecosystem.

“Eradicating Catalina Island’s entire population of more than 1,770 mule deer through aerial shooting from helicopters is inhumane and drastic, and potentially dangerous to the public,” concluded a motion approved by the board in a unanimous vote.

The supervisors suggested the conservancy try other and less drastic methods to thin the herd, such as mass sterilization or birth control, relocation — and expanding the deer hunting season. The board’s opposition to the aerial killing, and its request that alternatives be tried, will be included in a letter from the board to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.

A permit to enact the program was submitted to the CDFW in August 2023 and is currently under review. “Nothing has been approved yet,” said Tim Daly, CDFW spokesperson, on Tuesday. He did not comment further on the status of the permit.

Fourth District County Supervisor Janice Hahn, whose district includes Catalina Island and was the author of the motion, said her office received about 500 calls and emails, most objecting to the deer eradication plan. Hahn said 90,000 signatures have been collected in opposition to the plan, including more than 70,000 from a Care2 online petition.

Hahn wants the CDFW to deny the permit, and then the conservancy would be forced to work on compromises that “would be better received by the public.”

But the conservancy said the other options will not work.

The island is home to 60 unique species of plants and animals that are being threatened by the mule deer, said Lauren Dennhardt, senior director of conservation for the Catalina Island Conservancy. “Unless we act now we can expect irreversible consequences,” she told the board.

The mule deer are munching on selective plants unique to the island. Once these are eaten down to the stubs, they don’t grow back. Instead, invasive species that are more fire-prone move in. That increases the possibility of wildfires, Dennhardt said during an interview.

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