Posted on 10/12/2011 8:44:32 AM PDT by Baynative
Nestled in the Pacific Ocean approximately 30 miles from the mainland of Santa Barbara sits a beautiful island where majestic Roosevelt elk and Kaibab mule deer roam free. Ferried across a treacherous channel, these grand species were brought to Santa Rosa Island some 80 years ago, but their days are officially numbered. A complete slaughter of these magnificent animals is scheduled to occur before the midnight tide rises on Dec. 31, 2011. Sharpshooters will be en route to the island soon to comply with a 1996 court settlement and 2007 legislation that reinstated the extermination order.
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Why do they want to kill them?
Meanwhile, Missouri is spending big bucks to reestablish elk in the SE part of the state.
They are beautiful so why not move them if nothing else? Better than slaughtering them all.
Why kill them? I haven’t read the background, but presumably because they endanger some designated endangered species—spotted toads or something.
Of course, too many Elk and deer on the island isn’t good—presumably the result of protecting them before exterminating them. A reasonable amount of hunting would solve the problem—but they hate hunters. Hard to predict what these nutballs will do next—always jumping from one extreme to another.
The Delta Smelt was introduced into the waterways in Central California a whole lot later than the elk and mule deer on the island. This issue has shut down water for irrigation for farms in Central California. Boxer and Feinstein are cynical allies of the effort to keep water away from farms to protect this false endangered fish. I'll stop now before getting myself taken to the woodshed.
Thought maybe because they were considered an invasive species.
They don’t like hunters so they will bring in sharpshooters?
The slaughter of the entire population makes no sense at all. Selling this beautiful island to the government was the worst thing for it.
Many years ago Brown County Park in central Indiana had a problem with whitetail deer. They were so overpopulated it was beyond comprehension. The State decided to hold a special deer hunt, and allowed hunters to take 4 or 5 deer each. The mayhem that resulted was indescribable. The mistake the State made was not closing down the park while hunting occurred. Wounded deer were running out of the park in herds, collapsing on picnic blankets, front yards and in traffic. It was not a good testament for hunters in general. The State shut down the special hunt, and in the end, brought in “sharpshooters” to cull the deer. Maybe this is an attempt to avoid a similar problem, although my preferred solution would be to live-trap the animals and transplant them. That’s how Michigan, for example, got it’s current elk herd.
Senators who support slaughtering human fetuses couldn’t care less about Cervidae, but will happily screw their own citizens to save a two-inch fish.
Savage is right, liberalism is indeed a mental disorder.
Well said.
Seems weird, but I guess we are different down here. Fixed season for whitetail bucks with some variation county to county. Land owners get doe permits, quantity depending on current concentrations.
Actually it’s a thriving industry for the land owners, private property thing though.
Send in the Daleks!
Was private sale. I’m not going to second guess the seller getting his best price.
Yes, they are “invasive” in the sense that FDR brought them in.
Which is kind of a laugh. The greatest hero of the left in America brought in invasive species all over the place, in his various projects. Yellow pine in New England. That hugely invasive vine all over the South. And many others.
Liberals just can’t help doing things, and then having to undo them.
But there’s no reason I can see why a reasonable number of deer and elk can’t live on the island. And adjust the length of the hunting season so the numbers come out right.
Yes, they’d rather have sharpshooters than real hunters. On the island where I have summered in Maine since 1947, the islanders used to jack deer when they were hungry, and hang them in the larder, or later, the freezer. Then the mainland government moved in and stopped it. Now there are hundreds of deer all over the island, everyone has to put up deer fences, you have to watch out when you drive at night, and dozens of deer starve to death every winter.
They’ve just voted to take care of it—by bringing in sharpshooters. Why not just let the Islanders do a little hunting for their food?
I don’t fault the owners for selling. It’s just a shame to see such a beautiful place go fallow at the hands of the government.
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