"I'd offer you a tomato but Bambi got them," Ron Parks said, showing a gnawed stem to Mentor City Council during its meeting Tuesday.

Parks said he often sees a group of 36 deer gnawing the greenery on his 3-acre property along Lake Shore Boulevard. He said he's also had his car damaged when a deer rammed it.

"I'm not worried about my plants. They can be replaced," he said. "What I'm worried about is the fleas, the ticks, the lice – the disease."

Before Parks spoke, Councilman Ray Kirchner asked the city administration what it was doing to address deer overpopulation.

"It seems like a day doesn't go by that I don't get a call or an email or someone stops me on the street to talk about damage done by deer," he said.

He noted that the city has studied the situation extensively and asked if they had a plan of action.

"Hopefully, we're getting close to some kind of solution," he said.

City Council President Robert Shiner replied that the city will watch to see if Lake Metroparks' controlled hunts help manage the deer population.

"We're looking at what they're doing to see if it works for them," he said.

Councilman Ronald Micchia, who has stated his opposition to deer culling before, said the city should examine options beyond controlled hunts.

"There's a (population) rebound effect when you kill deer," he said.

Meanwhile, Councilman Scott Marn was concerned about another quadruped.

"There's an increasing problem with coyotes in the area," he said.

Marn said that he recently saw a pair of coyotes six feet from his patio and they did not immediately scamper away when he tried to scare them off.

"Deer are definitely a problem, but deer aren't going to maul a little kid," he said.