What You Can Do
Point Reyes National Seashore on the Northern California coastline is a national treasure for nature lovers to enjoy and a refuge for wild animals to live free from hunting. Please join citizens from across the country in speaking out against the Park Service's plan to exterminate the White Fallow and Spotted Axis deer who have lived in the park for over 50 years.
Even though the formal period for public comment is closed, we can still prevent the use of lethal force against the deer if enough people tell the Park Service to pursue a humane solution. Getting the media to tell our side of the story is crucial to winning the public's support and convincing elected officials to take action, so write letters to the editor against the Park Service's lethal plan. We also need to connect with people directly through local activism such as leafleting and gathering petition signatures.
Write or call the NPS and Federal Elected Officials
Email the park and ask them to halt plans to shoot the deer, or mail a letter to:
Jon Jarvis, Regional Director
National Park Service
Pacific West Region
One Jackson Center
1111 Jackson Street, Suite 700
Oakland, CA 94607
(510) 817-1304
jon_jarvis@nps.gov
Point Reyes National Seashore is one of the jewels of America's national park system. Let NPS officials and your representatives on Capitol Hill know that you strongly oppose lethal methods of managing the park's deer population. You can get contact information for your elected officials by clicking here and entering your zip code, or by calling the Government Information Hotline at (916) 322-9900 and giving the operator your address.
Please tell your friends and family who have visited the area and enjoyed the Point Reyes Seashore experience to make their voices heard as well.
Please send a copy of your letter or email to your State Representative. Click here to get your Representative's contact information.
Please thank Lynn Woolsey for her support of a 100% non-lethal implementation program.
California residents only: also write to U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer
1700 Montgomery Street, Suite 240
San Francisco, CA 94111
(415) 403-0100 phone
(415) 956-6701 fax
Gather Signatures on IDA's Save Point Reyes Deer Petition
Please sign IDA’s online petition asking the park to halt plans to shoot the deer.
Distribute IDA's Save the Point Reyes Deer Flyers
IDA and the Marin Humane Society have produced a flyer opposing the NPS's plan to kill the White Fallow and Spotted Axis Deer at Point Reyes National Seashore. The brochure is perfect for educating friends, family and members of the public about the proposed extermination. IDA is pleased to send you free copies of this brochure for you to distribute. To order, email literature@idausa.org with the number of brochures you would like along with your name and complete mailing address
Write a letter to the editor of the following newspapers:
Letter to the Editor
San Francisco Chronicle
901 Mission St.
San Francisco, CA 94103
Fax: (415) 543-7708
Email: letters@sfchronicle.com</p>
Letter to the Editor
Point Reyes Light
Box 210
Point Reyes Station, CA 94956
Fax: (415) 663-8458
Email: editor@ptreyeslight.com
Letter to the Editor
Marin Independent Journal
PO Box 6150
Novato, CA 94948-6150
Fax: (415) 883-5458
Email: letters@marinij.com
Talking Points
- The NPS Final Non-Native Deer Management Plan & Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) lacks evidence that the fallow and axis deer are negatively impacting the environment or other species in the park.
- The FEIS lacks full and objective information about the feasibility of wildlife contraception methods. The FEIS should include an analysis of the feasibility of wildlife contraception written by experts in the field.
- The FEIS lacks an alternative that considers management of the axis and fallow deer through contraception alone. (The NPS's current alternative uses contraception, but only in combination with lethal control, i.e., shooting the deer.)
- The exotic deer are in the park because of human action - they were placed on a private ranch in the 1940s for hunting purposes before the area became a national park where hunting is forbidden. We now have an ethical responsibility to devise a humane and non-lethal approach to managing these animals.
- The axis and fallow deer are a special and important part of the visitor experience to the Point Reyes National Seashore and this unique wildlife viewing opportunity should be preserved for people to enjoy, not destroyed.
- Shooting animals has no place in a wildlife refuge like Point Reyes. The lives of all species at the Seashore, native and non-native alike, will be irrevocably disrupted.