Video: Mentor Citizens Weigh In On Deer Issue

Several Mentor residents at .

All of them -- or, at least, all who spoke -- were in favor of thinning the herd.

Dave Bower said he has gone to extraordinary lengths to keep deer off his property and away from his gardens.

He has used fox and coyote urine, flashing lights, an air compressor and sound effects ranging from bombs to coyote howls to keep the deer away, he told Council.

Bower also said the overpopulation has caused them to act unusually. For example, they show no fear of humans.

"They're rats on hooves right now, because they're not acting like deer," he said.

Eric Lauridsen also spoke at the meeting. He told City Council that his property, which abuts , was often overrun with deer because he has a neighbor who feeds them.

"On Sunday, I saw 20 deer stretched from the golf course across my yard to where the lady feeds them," he said.

Meanwhile, Carole Clement . She said she especially liked his suggestion that Mentor Police officers could be used as sharpshooters.

"It's very nice to not export jobs," she said.

Clement also said that, while deer culling may have its opponents, most Mentor residents supported the idea.

"We have a terrific problem here and it's going to take some serious, serious -- maybe even what some people would call drastic -- steps to solve it," she said. "And I would say to our administration, 'Be brave, be bold and believe that a sizeable portion of Mentor city people are behind you.'"

The administration said it would take some time to get approval from the Ohio Department of Natural Resources to cull deer, if that is what Council decides to do.

However, Janet Pruzinsky -- a Mentor resident who lives in the fourth ward -- said she needed relief from the deer as soon as possible.

"Get it done," she said. "Get it started. Somehow, get it started."

Also from the work session Tuesday: