Manage, Don't Exterminate the Point Reyes Deer

Two non-native populations of deer in the Point Reyes National Seashore in Marin County, California are being targeted for an unnecessarily brutal campaign of eradication by the National Park Service.

Fallow and Axis Deer have been in the Park since the 1950's, and their populations are small-- only 1,100 animals. The NPS has determined that these non-native animals need to be removed from the National Seashore and, despite tremendous public outcry, they have hired contract hunters (a company called White Buffalo) to shoot all the deer with the aid of net guns and baited food stations among other methods.

Unfortunately, there is ample evidence that the professional hunters are not killing deer humanely.  Multiple people have reported finding deer carcasses near residential areas with bullet holes in their stomachs or other non-vital areas, indicating that these animals endured painful and drawn out deaths.  When a nursing doe is shot attempting to retrieve food from baited traps, her fawns inevitably starve to death. 

The proper management of Point Reyes National Seashore does not require and should not allow the brutal and inhumane slaughter of Fallow and Axis Deer.  These non-native deer were originally scheduled to be eradicated by 2021 by the National Park Service.  Despite having over a decade of time and the availability of contraceptive solutions, NPS is paying the professional hunters to shoot down all Fallow and Axis Deer within three years resulting in unnecessary cruelty and avoidable pain and suffering for these elegant animals.   

Join your voice of outrage with us and others.  Help us unite our voices by signing our online petition to stop cruel and unreasonable treatment of Fallow and Axis Deer.  WildCare will collect all signatures and present them to California's congressional leadership.  Please help us get more signatures and send a positive statement that humane means must be the only acceptable standard for controlling deer populations. 

Regardless of whether you believe that the non-native status of Point Reyes Deer requires their removal from the National Seashore, these beautiful animals do not have to die this way.  Non-lethal, humane solutions are available, and we have the time to allow them to work.  Please, add your voice to support the humane treatment of Point Reyes Deer. Visit www.wildcarebayarea.org/pointreyesdeer for more information.

Two non-native populations of deer in the Point Reyes National Seashore in Marin County, California are being targeted for an unnecessarily brutal campaign of eradication by the National Park Service.

Fallow and Axis Deer have been in the Park since the 1950's, and their populations are small-- only 1,100 animals. The NPS has determined that these non-native animals need to be removed from the National Seashore and, despite tremendous public outcry, they have hired contract hunters (a company called White Buffalo) to shoot all the deer with the aid of net guns and baited food stations among other methods.

Unfortunately, there is ample evidence that the professional hunters are not killing deer humanely.  Multiple people have reported finding deer carcasses near residential areas with bullet holes in their stomachs or other non-vital areas, indicating that these animals endured painful and drawn out deaths.  When a nursing doe is shot attempting to retrieve food from baited traps, her fawns inevitably starve to death. 

The proper management of Point Reyes National Seashore does not require and should not allow the brutal and inhumane slaughter of Fallow and Axis Deer.  These non-native deer were originally scheduled to be eradicated by 2021 by the National Park Service.  Despite having over a decade of time and the availability of contraceptive solutions, NPS is paying the professional hunters to shoot down all Fallow and Axis Deer within three years resulting in unnecessary cruelty and avoidable pain and suffering for these elegant animals.   

Join your voice of outrage with us and others.  Help us unite our voices by signing our online petition to stop cruel and unreasonable treatment of Fallow and Axis Deer.  WildCare will collect all signatures and present them to California's congressional leadership.  Please help us get more signatures and send a positive statement that humane means must be the only acceptable standard for controlling deer populations. 

Regardless of whether you believe that the non-native status of Point Reyes Deer requires their removal from the National Seashore, these beautiful animals do not have to die this way.  Non-lethal, humane solutions are available, and we have the time to allow them to work.  Please, add your voice to support the humane treatment of Point Reyes Deer. Visit www.wildcarebayarea.org/pointreyesdeer for more information.

Dear Speaker Pelosi, Senator Boxer and Senator Feinstein,

The National Park Service has brutally shot to death more than half of the 1,100 Fallow and Axis Deer in the Point Reyes National Seashore, majestic animals descended from deer first released by land owners in the Park in the 1950s.

I am writing to ask you to take action to support an immediate moratorium on the killing of the Fallow and Axis Deer in the Park.

The current methods of lethal control used by the Park are inhumane. The Park's plan targets female Fallow Deer for killing 5 to 1 over male deer. Female Fallow Deer hide their young fawns while foraging for food. As part of the Park's population management plan, mothers that ventured to baited food stations were shot, never to return to their young. Many orphaned fawns slowly starved to death.

If the deer must be removed from the Point Reyes National Seashore, it is Park's responsibility and that of each and every one of us who values wildlife -- to ensure that humane means are used to control the deer population.

After all, we find ourselves in this predicament because of human actions fifty years ago.  It is our responsibility to resolve it in a manner that respects and protects the lives of these magnificent animals.