STORY: A menace on four hooves plagues the people who live on this remote South Korean island.

:: Anma Island, South Korea

After dark, it’s easier to see that Anma island’s deer outnumber residents seven to one.

They chomp on crops and trees in their nocturnal wanderings.

Villagers must live behind fences, penned into their homes and fields.

The problem is, they can’t do much about it under South Korean law.

Even though they’re out of control, the deer are technically considered livestock.

Residents are petitioning the government to label the deer as pests, so they can cull them.

In the meantime, the locals have had it.

They’ve essentially given up their fight against the deer, but not before trying all sorts of ways to deter the horde of herbivores: putting up fences, barbed wire, even playing sounds of gunshots out of speakers.

Eighty-year-old Han Jeong-rye works in her vegetable garden, surrounded by a 6-foot high fence – which did little to stop the animals.

:: Han Jeong-rye, Anma resident

“Oh my, look at the fence I set up. Even though I blocked it like that, the deer broke through it and ate all my crops. I can’t stand it. I’d be happy if somebody could please catch them and take them away.”

Deer antlers are highly prized in traditional Korean medicine.

That’s why farmers in the mid-80s first introduced the species to Anma Island. They brought about 10 of them.

But dwindling interest in such medicines dried up the antler market.

The herd was left unchecked and numbers exploded to around 1,000, spread over an area a bit bigger than Manhattan’s Central Park.

Antler trader Kang Dae-rin uses a blowgun to tranquilize a deer.

Based near Seoul, he’s visited the island several times to gauge its potential as a source of material.

But he says its almost futile to sedate them.

:: Kang Dae-rin, Antler trader

“There are lots of deer living here right now, and it’s impossible to catch them by using anaesthesia. The deer have already become immune and all of them can just run away.”

Deer on the island also have a severe tick infestation that makes it hard to ship the animals – or their antlers – away.

If the government agrees to reclassify deer on the island as “harmful wildlife”, rather than livestock – village leader Jang Jin-young says it could clear the way for hunters to help thin the numbers.

:: Jang Jin-young, President of youth group

“Maybe it’s a bit too much to bring in a hunter and catch them with a rifle. I’m sorry that I’m saying this, but at this point, we need to get rid of them which is our intention, even if that means we have to kill them.”