Santa Rosa deer, elk law may be repealed

[GGReporter]

Congress, at the urging of anti-hunting groups and environmentalists, appears on the verge of overturning a year-old federal law that protects deer and elk herds on Santa Rosa Island. What anti-hunters are not saying is that means the herds will likely be killed.

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[troy2000]

When the government bought Santa Rosa island from the family that owned it, it was stocked with elk and deer which aren't native to the island, for hunting purposes.

Supposedly the animals are trashing the place like burros do in some places in the southwest; they're too much for the environment to handle.

So the government was planning to remove them, like they've done with other non-native animals on other Channel Islands.

Then along came Congressman Duncan Hunter with his cockamamie idea to turn the Island into a hunting preserve for disabled veterans. I don't know what he's really up to, but I guarantee the average disabled veteran isn't going to be doing any hunting on that island, unless it's from a helicopter. It's rough terrain.

The current hunts are conducted by a company that owns the herds, and the island (which is now part of the Channel Islands National Park) is closed to the general public for five months of the years so they can do so. My opinion is that Hunter is tied in with that outfit somehow, and using the disabled veterans as political cover.

"Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel." Samuel Johnson.