The peaceful sight of deer grazing throughout Colorado Springs comes with a sad and dangerous side effect. The population has become so large it threatens human safety. The dense herd is so inbred many of the deer aren’t healthy, and hundreds end up dead on city streets each year.

Car-deer collisions have become so common in our state the insurance industry reports each Colorado motorist has a 1-in-169 risk of hitting a deer.

The Colorado Department of Transportation reported 7,706 car-deer collisions throughout the state in 2016, and the agency believes the public reports only half of deer-related accidents. The National Highway Safety Administration estimates 175 annual motorist deaths caused by collisions with deer, and 10,000 human injuries.

Excessive deer density also attracts mountain lions to residential areas of the city, putting humans at risk of attacks.

“One of the biggest problems we hear is deer being destructive to shrubbery and flowers,” said Dave Munger, executive director of the Council of Neighbors and Organizations. “If you’re a gardener, you have a love-hate relationship with deer at best. … (Deer) are probably the most significant species that neighborhoods are concerned about. We certainly would welcome attention to the issue.”

Deer overpopulation recently led city officials to ask Colorado Parks and Wildlife for advice, and its best recommendation is a controlled archery hunting program.

“I think urban hunting is probably the best way to go,” Councilman Don Knight said, as quoted last week in a Gazette news story by Seth Boster. Knight plans to ask the council at Monday’s work session to approve researching the possibility, involving city lawyers and the public works department alongside state Parks and Wildlife.

It is not an untested solution in our immediate area. Parks and Wildlife officials report great success at improving the health of deer and reducing auto collisions at the Air Force Academy, just north of the city, where a controlled hunting program began in 1988. Before the hunts, car-deer collisions peaked at nearly 200 in 1986. The hunting program has reduced car-deer crashes to an annual average of 13.

Parks and Wildlife organized a controlled hunt at The Broadmoor hotel and resort to reduce a deer population that had grown to the dangerous density of 20 animals per square mile. State officials coordinated with the charity U.S. Warriors Outdoors to have disabled military veterans conduct the hunt.

Other cities and towns throughout Colorado have improved safety and increased the health of deer populations with urban hunts overseen by Parks and Wildlife.

Nearly everyone enjoys the sight of deer, but herds living in urban environments must be properly managed. Controlled urban hunting has an established history of positive results, locally and statewide and throughout much of the rest of the country. City officials are wise to consider the Parks and Wildlife division’s best recommendation.