Volunteers to Kill Sheep as Last Resort

Despite a request that no more sheep be killed on east Santa Cruz Island, the Nature Conservancy on Friday deployed a team of rifle-toting volunteers to scare sheep back onto National Park Service land--and, as a last resort, kill those that cannot be deterred from grazing on conservancy property, officials said.

Kathy Jenks, the animal regulation director for Ventura County and coordinator of an island sheep-adoption program, asked the park service Thursday for help in persuading the conservancy to stop all sheep killing until the embryonic adoption program is complete.

And even though she received no assurances that all of the estimated 2,500 sheep on east Santa Cruz would be spared, Jenks said Friday that she is satisfied that the conservancy will try not to kill more animals than necessary to protect island plants. “They’re going forward this weekend and there may be some hunting,” Jenks said. “But I am satisfied that at least before any future hunts are scheduled, they will meet with me and the park service.”

The conservancy was criticized two weeks ago when its hunters killed dozens of sheep grazing in canyons that would not be herded back to the 10% of the island owned by the park service.

But Jenks said that after a conference call among her, conservancy director Diane Elfstrom-Devine and Channel Islands National Park Supt. Tim J. Setnicka on Friday, she now thinks the conservancy is attempting to cooperate with the sheep-adoption effort.

“I don’t want to say that I love what they’re doing, but I understand their perspective,” Jenks said. “The conservancy, park service employees and hunters I’ve talked to all agree that driving all of the sheep out of those inaccessible canyons is impossible on foot and that sheep dogs wouldn’t work there either.”

Elfstrom-Devine said that she hopes no sheep will be killed over the weekend as the conservancy team scares them off conservancy land. But she said that some killing may be unavoidable.

“The only hunting we’re doing is in the area where we cannot drive the animals back,” she said. “We’re not trying to kill the sheep. The hunting aspect is the last resort.”