Park Service wants to eliminate exotic deer at Point Reyes

It opens,
"Exotic deer have worn out their welcome at Point Reyes National Seashore, and the National Park Service has decided it's time to wipe them out.

"The service released a plan Thursday to deal with the hundreds of nonnative fallow and axis deer trampling the park's meadows and woodlands. The plan includes several options, and the deer are likely to find most of them objectionable, since the goal is their elimination.

"The alternatives range from doing nothing to shooting the deer. The park service's preferred option involves killing most of them and treating the remainder with a special vaccine that would sterilize does for up to three years. Using those methods, all the deer would be eliminated by 2017.

"Fallow deer and axis deer have been a part of West Marin's fauna since 1948, when some were purchased from the San Francisco Zoo by a Point Reyes landowner and released with the expectation that they would provide enhanced hunting opportunities.

"But most hopes for hunting the hefty ungulates -- both species can tip the scales at 200 pounds -- were dashed when Point Reyes became national park property in 1962. Hunting is forbidden in national parks.

"For years, rifle-toting park staffers periodically culled the herds. But that stopped about five years ago, in large part because of public discomfort with the program.

There are amusing quotes from "Ann Stewart, who with her daughter, Amanda Wisby, runs Angus cattle on both family land and about 2,500 acres leased from the park service."

She says, "They tear out yards and yards of fencing. It's really a major expense. My heart really goes out to (park staffers). As soon as they try to do anything on this, they're going to have a whole bunch of people like PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) after them."

And we hear about those radical PETA folks:

"Stephanie Boyles, a wildlife biologist with PETA, said her organization favors nonlethal means for exotic animal control as a matter of course."

Boyles is quoted:
"There is now a vaccine undergoing field trials that is specifically designed for cervids (deer). Given that it's a public agency, we think the National Park Service should be at the forefront of participating in these trials. Point Reyes would be the perfect place for it."

About the deer she says,

"They've been there for decades, they didn't ask to be there, and they're just making the best of their situation. We need to approach this with some compassion."

Sadly, we learn, "Gordon Bennett, chairman for the Marin group of the Sierra Club, supports the park service's position. He said the exotic deer problem at Point Reyes was caused by humans, and humans must take the responsibility for solving it."

By killing the deer.

You can read the whole article on line at:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2005/02/04/MNGH2B60I21.DTL
OR
http://tinyurl.com/52q6e

And you can send a letter to the editor, ensuring that the voice of compassion is part of the public dialogue, to letters [at] sfchronicle.com.

The paper advises, "Please limit your letters to 200 or fewer words ... shorter letters have a better chance of being selected for publication."

Always include your full name, address, and daytime phone number when sending a letter to the editor.

Yours and the animals',
Karen Dawn

(DawnWatch is an animal advocacy media watch that looks at animal issues in the media and facilitates one-click responses to the relevant media outlets. You can learn more about it, and sign up for alerts at http://www.DawnWatch.com. If you reprint DawnWatch alerts, please do so unedited -- leave DawnWatch in the title and include this tag line.)