Droves of delinquent white-tailed deer are overtaking Grand Forks, B.C., and the city's mayor says it's time to buck the trend.

"Like many other small communities, we're a perfect breadbasket for breeding deer," said Mayor Brian Taylor. "You can drive down virtually every street in town, day or night, and see them."

The deer have caused havoc in schoolyards and numerous traffic accidents. As recently as June, a 48-year-old Grand Forks resident was killed when his motorcycle hit a deer on Highway 33.

"We have a number of anecdotal things happening in terms of aggressive behaviour from deer," added Taylor.

A recent municipal count found 140 deer within a designated count area, a 100 per cent increase from last year.

Last year, Grand Forks city council created a committee -- which includes a conservation officer, a biologist, and a representative of Deer Pride -- to decide how the city will reduce the rising deer population. The committee will meet again this September to discuss a number of control options.

After considering a study on urban ungulate — hoofed animal — control released last March, Taylor is suggesting that the city shoot 50 of the estimated 350 deer. He says he's considered alternatives, such as capture and relocation, but is confident that a carefully organized cull is the best option.

Gayle Hesse, a biologist with the British Columbia Conservation Foundation who authored the study, says that capturing and relocating deer is not only an expensive process, it isn't the humane option that one might think.

"If you take a deer that's used to walking around the streets of Grand Forks, where it is not subject to any predation, where food is abundant, and you put it 150 kilometres out in the bush where there is natural predation and competition for food, it may not survive because it's not a particularly wild animal anymore," she said.

"Secondly, you probably have to tranquilize the animal and move it," added Hesse. "Trapping and moving deer is high-stress, high-cost, high-mortality."

Hesse said there are no drugs licensed for fertility control for deer in Canada.

According to Taylor, the culled deer will not be wasted.

"What we do with it is a really good issue. Even people who are not meat-eaters are aware of the fact that if you kill something, you should make use of it," said Taylor.

"My preference is that we sell it in local restaurants."

Robyn Smith is completing a practicum at The Tyee.