Edited sentence: In an effort to be kind to the deer, the herd was, at least initially, fed over the winters allowing the size of the herd to grow beyond numbers which the land could support leading to widespread disease including parasites and bovine tuberculosis.In its campaign to end hunting, the league operates one or more sanctuaries in which deer are protected from hunters.Other conservation organizations have worked with the LACS in an effort to help them establish a management plan which would reduce the population of the deer.Scientifically based management of the herd, which would include selective culling which runs counter to the purpose of the sanctuary, has been largely rejected by the society.The health of the deer population on the LACS sanctuary has reached such lows that at least one animal suffering from disease has been killed in what the killer described as a mercy killing.This practice, which runs contrary to generally accepted wildlife management practice has subjected the league to some criticism