On Tuesday the Mercury published a story about figures from the Invasive Species Council that showed there had been 107 collisions between a deer and a car in the Illawarra between 2005-17.

On the Mercury Facebook page there wasn’t very many people with a soft spot for the deer roaming the Illawarra.

Michelle Luu Lam asked a friend “pls don’t hit a deer they are my favourite animal after the giraffe”.

Then there was Chris Rockwell suggesting the deer entering suburbia was our fault.

“That’s because we keep taking away their habitat,” he wrote.

“They have nowhere else to go.”

Holly Ryan-Eccles suggested the deer were looking for food and something to drink.

READ MORE: Illawarra feral deer cull hits 739 in one year

“Maybe if people could leave out a water bowl..” she wrote. 

That was about it for deer-friendly remarks. The vast majority of readers who left comments felt the deer were pests that needed to be dealt with.

“I’ve been saying this for ages,” wrote Troy Upton. “It’s only a matter of time before someone gets killed.”

The news of deer encroaching on suburbia brought back memories for Staceee Dee Jaxx.

“I remember how crazy they were at Mt Keira," she wrote. “Pests. My hubby would love to cull them.”

Dwayne Affleck felt something needed to be done to reduce the population, especially now the state was in drought.

“Seeing as they are an introduced species that take food away from our native wildlife and ruin fauna with their hard hooves something more needs to be done about them … especially in these dry times when food is even more scarce on the ground,” he wrote.

Luke Malin commented on the damage the deer are doing to the escarpment.

“They are feral animals and take food away from the native animals while causing massive erosion,” he wrote.

“They are not suited to the Australian bush and sadly should be removed.” 

Some were offering their services to help remove deer from rural lands, while others saw the situation as a win-win.

“Thin the numbers out, put the meat in the fridge – problem solved,” wrote Mitch Embleton.

Several readers posted photos of their car after a collision with a deer, while others remembered the near-misses they’d had.

“Used to see them regularly on Cordeaux Road when we lived in Mt Kembla,” wrote Craig Keller.

“Nearly hit them a couple of times too.”