A few days ago I raised ecological concerns on this action. Getting no response from ALF I became suspicious so I decided to see what more I could find out about this release. It turns out that the deer that were released were European Fallow Deer!

AP reported, "About 400 European Fallow Deer escaped from the GNK ranch in San Miguel Tuesday after intruders cut a fence."

www.kiontv.com/news/local/story.aspx

If any of these animals did not return to their pen it will potentially be an environmental disaster. As I stated earlier, alien species introduced into new habitats by humans is a leading cause of extinction. The impacts could be to both flora and fauna.

One example of this kind of impact is the non-native feral burro population in the United States that has had extremely negative impacts on Big Horn Sheep populations, negative impacts on small mammal populations through trampling, as well as negative impacts on native plants.

Another example:

The rooting behavior of the non-native European Boar population in our area is extremely bad for preserving native plants and salamanders.

With alien plants the negative impact of a new species often isn’t known until it is too late to do much about it. Larger mammals like burros can be exterminated to preserve native species and bio-diversity, but such actions often face resistance from misinformed people who think they are fighting for animal rights. Yet what of the Big Horn Sheep? Similar problems for sound ecological management preserving native species could occur if a European Fallow Deer population is established.

An additional potential hazard of releasing deer from as far away as Europe is the potential of releasing new diseases that will spread to the native populations of Black-tailed Deer (Odocoileus hemionus californica)

ALF should put out a statement recognizing their mistakes on this action in order to avoid similar mistakes in the future.