An Arizona golf course is under attack from a squadron of pig-like creatures
Growling, clacking teeth, the rumble of hooves – as night falls at one of the United States’ most scenic golf clubs, sinister noises reverberate off the red-rock canyon walls.
And when the Arizona sunshine breaks over Seven Canyons in the morning, the destruction is revealed. Sprawling mounds of ravaged turf blot the 7,000-yard course like open wounds, soil and grass strewn in all directions across otherwise pristine fairways.
The perpetrators? Javelina, a pig-like creature with raking canine teeth whose capacity for chaos in the town of Sedona has seen them become a viral sensation.
“When you come upon them and see them, it’s like The Tasmanian devil,” Seven Canyons general manager Dave Bisbee told CNN.
“There’s turf flying all over the place, there’s grunting, there’s fighting. For rather small creatures, they do a lot of damage.
“They can rototill some turf with those teeth … it is really disturbing when you see it.”
Squealing squadron
Pig-like, but not pigs. Javelina, also known as collared peccary or musk hogs, are members of the peccary family, a mammal species that originated in South America before venturing north into Arizona and other Southwestern states of the US.
With a white collar ringing gray-black fur, javelina typically grow three to four feet long and 19 inches tall, weighing in anywhere between 40 and 60 pounds, with a seven-and-a-half year average life span, according to the Arizona State Department of Game and Fish.
Common to desert areas yet adaptable to a range of habitats, they have a predominantly herbivorous diet of cacti, bulbs and other plants but will also eat garbage, insects and – fatefully for Seven Canyons staff – worms.
Located at the base of the Vermilion Cliffs and encircled by the Coconino National Forest, the private course – with its nutrient-rich fairways and bountiful water hazards – presents an irresistible all-you-can-eat-and-drink buffet for a species looking to fatten up for winter.
https://eventregist.com/p/APFmWLFKKMxv
https://eventregist.com/p/BpLK8Gd3GqhS
https://eventregist.com/p/mRs5oQ9yo4V0
https://eventregist.com/p/gO9ZinhVPAuF
https://eventregist.com/p/Gp3MsAXhYd2H
https://eventregist.com/p/h9blNbOlWtTa
https://eventregist.com/p/gYr8HSFQTcEf
https://eventregist.com/p/05ObEFx5rOv4
https://eventregist.com/p/EP8PspHe34KR
https://eventregist.com/p/w3hI4MOwaPL4
https://eventregist.com/p/eU6L7i0VMGlb
https://eventregist.com/p/LYBvDki6Fg8w
https://eventregist.com/p/yJRYnOq62Snt
https://eventregist.com/p/76X309tVJyPA
https://eventregist.com/p/kwQu7X5wywcz
https://eventregist.com/p/Nqu5s8fBflFO
https://www.irishdance805.com/group/mysite-200-group/discussion/92e5a9e5-4b26-441e-a9c6-7f34de1e5946
https://www.irishdance805.com/group/mysite-200-group/discussion/fbdd33ef-a369-46f0-a4d0-7c4e9d66b066
https://amber-mango-gdlpw0.mystrikingly.com/
https://hackmd.io/@albersonronse/SkpJRRK7a
https://open.firstory.me/story/cloqoiqij02vi01tdculn0e15
https://www.irishdance805.com/group/mysite-200-group/discussion/28d49b68-49b1-4dcc-8099-727c95f03ecf
https://gamma.app/docs/-The-Marvels-2023-THAISub-fray0vdxr6e1hx8?mode=doc
https://paste.toolforge.org/view/82abd232
https://pastelink.net/p1szsgsf
https://plaza.rakuten.co.jp/arwawaw/diary/202311090001/
https://learn.acloud.guru/profile/367880340165
https://gotartwork.com/Blog/-an-arizona-golf-course-is-under-attack-from/235159/
https://baskadia.com/post/jml6
https://profile.hatena.ne.jp/squillacelinnertzxwg/
http://foxsheets.statfoxsports.com/UserProfile/tabid/57/userId/158589/Default.aspx
http://phillipsservices.net/UserProfile/tabid/43/userId/267431/Default.aspx
https://www.bitsdujour.com/profiles/it6cqh
https://muckrack.com/squillacelinnertzxwg-squillacelinnertzxwg/bio
http://zacriley.ning.com/photo/albums/an-arizona-golf-course-is-under-attack-from-a-squadron-of-pig
http://pastie.org/p/0cXgzYzKfnwx95rbi2wvKW
https://beterhbo.ning.com/photo/albums/an-arizona-golf-course-is-under-attack-from-a-squadron-of-pig
https://events.ajc.com/event/b653f5b23a5a034487fbc3e459ab2005
https://yamcode.com/awfaw-4820
https://paste.azago.in/u1DSQRFMv3
http://pastehere.xyz/aS5WGbuak/
https://tech.io/snippet/hZHe7Kc
Earthworms wriggling in the top few inches of grass are a particular delicacy for the javelina, which are not strictly nocturnal but are most active after dark. Consequently, 25 to 35-strong herds – also known as squadrons – churn up expanses of turf in search of a midnight snack.
It’s a greenkeeping nightmare exacerbated by an extra-hot, bone-dry summer in the Grand Canyon state. Though Bisbee has had to deal with the peccaries six or seven times in his two-decade stint at the club, “not a drop of rain” between May 20 and August 20 has seen javelina activity escalate in the period since.
Downsides and upsides
Salvage efforts are akin to fixing an extra-large golf divot – turning the turf back over, applying some top dressing and finishing by seeding new grass into the existing turf.
Classified as a big-game species, it is illegal under state law to injure or kill javelina, “even if they are causing a problem,” with removal by the Arizona Game and Fish Department strictly a last resort. Most javelina do not survive forced relocation, the department said, often unable to find food, water, or shelter following separation from their herd, and prone to being killed by a predator.
As a result, not feeding the animals and keeping them out using fencing and walls are advized as ways to discourage their presence.
Beyond fencing, so far staff have banded together to plug the gaps as they appear, but it could be a nervy few weeks ahead. December signals the beginning of the non-growing season, effectively meaning the course will be stuck in whatever condition it’s in until springtime.
As falling temperatures push the worms deeper into the soil, edging them out of range of the javelina’s keen sense of smell, there is hope that Seven Canyons has endured the worst of the assault; yet financial scars will endure.
The club will have spent between $150,000 and $300,000 in labor costs by the time the javelinas back away, Bisbee estimates, with a further $50,000 to $75,000 spent on additional seed, turf growth blankets and other restorative equipment.