Sandy City seems to be having a bit of a deer problem, and hunting them may be in the cards.

According to residents in the southeastern part of Sandy, at about 11600 South going eastward, deer are coming down from the mountains, but they aren’t going back up after finding food. They’re staying in residents’ backyards, making homes for themselves and even reproducing.

Seventy residents in the area recently signed a petition and presented it to the Sandy City Council. They’re not happy with the presence of the animals, citing droppings and eaten plants as two of the reasons they want the deer gone.

The Division of Wildlife Resources has a program in which certified bow hunters are used to take care of the deer population in urban areas, which is one option being discussed by the  city council. Highland did this in August, and the meat that was collected was used to feed the homeless.

It may not even be legal for the council to make a decision like this, though, said City Councilmember Steve Fairbanks.

“We want to be able to take care of our citizens’ needs and concerns, so we need to figure out exactly what can be done,” Fairbanks said. “We don’t yet know how far we can go legally.”

This isn’t the first time the increasing deer population has been brought to the city council’s attention, said Communications Director Nicole Martin.

“The city council has discussed this issue in the past, but no action was taken,” Martin said. “The city council did ask for this issue to come back on a future agenda, so at that time, the council will look at a variety of potential solutions for this problem.”

Fairbanks said that the council has only heard one side of the story, and that there are many people opposed to hunting the deer. The discussion is expected to be brought back to the council sometime in January.