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Fallow Deer at Point Reyes
This week there was outrage over the killing of 80 deer in Marin's Pt. Reyes National Seashore. The deer were captured and shot by the National Park Service, who also injected another 80 deer with a contraceptive. At issue is the uncontrolled growth of non-native Fallow and Axis deer. The Park Service claims those species have overwhelmed the ecosystem and endangered the native Black Deer and other indigenous species. In the Service's controversial plan hundreds of the non-native deer will be eliminated by 2021. Opponents to the killings include the Marin Humane Society and local residents. The non-native deer, originally from Europe and Asia, were released here as a hunting program in the 1940s. But when the area became a National Seashore in 1962 the hunting stopped and the deer began to multiple.
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