Episode 815: Killing Catalina

What this episode covers

Catalina Island is a unique channel island situated off California’s southern coast. It is roughly 75 square miles and home to just under 4,000 residents. It is also home to a healthy mule deer herd that was established on the island by the Wrigley family roughly a century ago. Sadly, Catalina Island has been in the news for all the wrong reasons of late, however, as the Catalina Island Conservancy has approved a plan to eradicate the deer herd off the face of the earth. When our longtime friend Charles Whitwam of HOWL For Wildlife found out about the eradication plan, he immediately began asking questions. Specifically, where is the science that warrants wiping out the deer herd? The deeper he dug, the more questions were raised. Where is the science dictating the deer herd needs removal? Has California Department of Fish & Wildlife weighed in on the issue? How many deer actually inhabit the island? What do the locals think about the plan? When Charles couldn’t get adequate answers, he went to Catalina Island to dig deeper. What resulted (rather unintentionally) was an incredible documentary on the issue. If you haven’t watched Killing Catalina, I highly recommend it. In the meantime, hope you enjoy the discussion with Charles as we dive in deep on this topic. The biggest takeaway as you’ll discover is when Charles asks for the science to support the deer removal, it becomes painfully obvious that there flat out isn’t any. The deer removal plan is so controversial, in fact, that anti-hunting organizations like HSUS and hunters themselves are fighting on the same team for the first time I can ever remember. (Entities such as Outdoor Life have covered the topic in large part due to HOWL’s effort to get the word out)