Axis deer can be a severe threat to Hawaii’s fragile ecosystems. They eat almost anything green, including endangered plants. They also multiply rapidly, with a year-round breeding pattern that can allow populations to more than double every three to four years.

Deer populations have exploded in Maui County, encompassing Maui, Lanai and Molokai. As a second year of drought looms on Maui, deer are pushing into populated areas, decimating private gardens, commercial agricultural crop and the larger economy.

Last week, Gov. David Ige issued an emergency proclamation — his third in two years — granting the state, county and private landowners additional options to deal with the problem.

This is truly an emergency, but not a short-term one. Comprehensive, long-term efforts to limit the axis deer population are needed.

The state introduced five axis deer to Maui in 1959; there are now up to 60,000 deer are roaming the island. And while hunters kill more than 7,000 deer annually, hunting has not controlled the population. The deer have no natural predators in Hawaii.

“It’s definitely a whole ecological problem we cannot ignore,” said Maui Councilwoman Yuki Lei Sugimura.

As the governor’s proclamation noted, this is typically the rainy season on Maui. When the dry season arrives, conditions could become even worse.

In 2021, state and county officials reported that large numbers of axis deer were migrating into farms and backyards in Maui County during the drought, looking for food and water.

Hundreds of deer have died because of the drought, and decomposing carcasses can contaminate streams and the ocean downstream. Furthermore, overgrazing damages the land, causing erosion and ocean-polluting runoff.

The need to act is both immediate and ongoing. Ige’s proclamation calls for “immediate measures to reduce and control the axis deer population, including corralling and culling deer, clearing vegetation along fence lines, and building or repairing fences.” The emergency period is in effect until May 20.

For the longer term, the Maui Axis Deer Task Force, which Sugimura helped establish in September, will try to manage and control the deer population, while identifying resources and funding for the task.

Maui County’s current budget earmarks $1.5 million to address the axis deer problem. Its next budget is expected to include another $1 million, Sugimura said. The Legislature is also considering measures to address the issue, as it should.

A wide range of options will need to be considered: culling and fencing to be sure, but also finding more efficient avenues for putting Maui venison on restaurant menus and in grocery stores. The meat, which contains relatively little fat, is considered by many to be a high-quality product.

Hawaii should heed past mistakes. Twenty years ago, a committee of land managers and public agency officials recommended controls on Maui’s axis deer population before more problems developed. That didn’t happen.

By 2012, deer had caused an estimated $1 million in damage over two years, to farms, ranches and tourist resorts.

At that time, the Maui deer population was estimated at 12,000.

In the decade since, as the Star-Advertiser’s Tim Hurley reported, “their growing numbers have been nearly impossible to ignore — especially for the residents, farmers and ranchers who live Upcountry.”

In 2021, the goal was to reduce the Maui deer population by 10,000. The goal now is 15,000, thought to be enough to hold the population at its current level.

If Maui doesn’t hit that target — and continue to hit it — damage to the ecosystem and economy will only grow worse.