LIVONIA, Mich. (WXYZ) — Michiganders are used to seeing deer roam through their backyards, but residents and officials in Livonia are trying to figure out what to do when deer become a nuisance.
“It’s been a problem for some time, they get hit… they carry disease, they carry ticks and fleas, they have worms,” said Beth Mack, Livonia resident.
Mack has lived in Lived in Livonia her whole life. She says over the past year, it seems like her neighborhood has been overrun with deer.
“It is very typical to look out my window - 6, 8, 9, 12 deer,” Mack added.
Mack says she wants the city of Livonia to do more to curb the over-population of deer.
“All they do is talk, and they never seem to do anything about it and all the complaining in the world doesn’t matter,” said Mack.
Livonia City Councilman Rob Donovic says resident's complaints about deer are being taken seriously.
“It’s just hard because it is a regional issue. When I look at this topic, it is a bigger issue than just the city of Livonia,” said Donovic. “From my research…. Farmington Hills has it much worse than Livonia, Novi has it worse than Livonia, so it is an issue that we as metropolitan area… need to figure out some solution.”
Donovic added there has been recent buzz surrounding the city’s dead deer removal policy when it comes to residents’ private property.
He says city officials aren’t able to come on private property no matter the circumstances.
“It is your responsibility as a private property owner to remove that deer from where it is in your yard to the road and we will come pick it up free of charge,” said Donovic.
As for Beth Mack, she took matters into her own hands and decided to put up special fencing to keep deer out of her backyard.
“It was, literally, to the point that if we didn’t come up with a solution to keep them out of our backyard, we were going to put our house up for sale and move,” said Mack.
