法官批准消灭加州圣卡塔琳娜岛2000头梅花鹿

加州圣卡塔琳娜岛一名法官本周初步驳回了反对者的禁制令申请，批准岛屿保护组织执行消灭近2000头梅花鹿的计划1。这些非本地鹿种过度采食本地灌木，导致入侵草种蔓延，增加野火风险1。保护组织将在五年内完成种群消灭，未来两个月预计猎杀约200头鹿1。

该计划已遭到动物保护人士和公众的强烈反对，在线请愿书已获得32000多个签名1。加州鱼类和野生动物部门于1月份批准了该方案1。根据计划，猎杀的鹿肉将用于加州秃鹫恢复项目或当地部落1。梅花鹿约一个世纪前被猎人引入该岛用于运动狩猎1。保护组织控制该岛88%的面积1，岛屿居民将被允许在10月下旬至12月中旬进行最后一个狩猎季1。

A Los Angeles County judge this week granted preliminary approval for a plan to eliminate approximately 2,000 fallow deer from California's Catalina Island over the next five years.1 The cull aims to halt ecological damage caused by the non-native deer species, which overgraze native shrubland and facilitate the spread of invasive grasses that increase wildfire risk.1

The culling operation will begin immediately, with roughly 200 deer expected to be killed by rifle over the next two months.1 The island's conservation organization, which controls 88 percent of the island, will oversee the effort.1 Deer carcasses will be allocated to California condor recovery programs or local tribes.1 The fallow deer, originally introduced by hunters approximately a century ago for sport hunting, now number around 2,000 on the island.1

The plan has triggered substantial public opposition, with an online petition garnering over 32,000 signatures against the measure.1 A judge this week preliminarily rejected attempts by opponents to obtain an injunction halting the cull.1 The California Department of Fish and Wildlife approved the initiative in January.1 Island residents will be permitted to conduct a final hunting season from late October through mid-December.1