COLORADO SPRINGS — Deer lay siege to Andy Pico’s wife’s garden so often — eating her flowers — that the city councilman has named them.

“I call them The Venisons,” Pico said with a laugh.

But the issue is no laughing matter, he said. Colorado Springs’ urban deer population is said to be dangerously high, and the council is considering options to reduce it. About 20 deer live in every square mile of southwest Colorado Springs, said Bill Vogrin, spokesman for Colorado Parks and Wildlife.

“Typically in the rural, forested areas of the state, we see two to three deer per square mile,” Vogrin said. “That’s the norm and what we consider healthy.”

Colorado Springs’ dense deer population results in a high level of vehicle-vs.-deer crashes, authorities say.

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