Notes from the desert: 1 a.m. bright moon. Hamish, the most amiable of dogs emits low, deep growls...startling because I so rarely hear him do it. Then I hear the crash of broken pottery and a thumping noise. I get out of bed, peer through the window. The driveway is full of large boulders...wait a minute, adjust my vision...the boulders are moving. Damn! the javelina's have found me.
Out onto the balcony followed by Faithful dog and Warrior Woman cat and there they are...all sizes from itty bitty to massive, babies, teenagers, moms and one huge boar (well by moonlight it sure looks like a boar and I'm not planning on a close up inspection). They have toppled pots down the steps and a couple of rampaging teenagers are attempting to push the garbage bin over and Mom isn't doing a thing to stop them. In desperation (and full moonlight...lord, I hope the neighbors aren't looking and that that the Google earth satellite isn't overhead). 
Sassy Teenager
I hurl the only weapons to hand...chair cushions. They fly like frisbees (the cushions) over the driveway, over the olive trees and into the dry wash. Javelina's, and I count 14, are unperturbed. I go out into the walled and fenced front courtyard. Shouting 'shoo' does absolutely nothing to rout the thugs intent on eating my newly planted Red Yuccas. Big mistake comes next...I pick up a rock...hurl it to the middle of the drive way...perfect aim but the car is there and I smash my windshield. And I've just explained that one to my insurance company. "You smashed it yourself, you threw a brick at your car..." it took a while for the agent to stop laughing but I am covered. Now I have to retrieve cushions from the dry wash.
Mom and Two Young Ones End note: javelina's roam the mountain foothills and desert area around Tucson. In their own hairy way, they are cute but we are moving in on their stomping ground. The herd that roams my neighborhood has no fear of humans or dogs. They returned in broad daylight to the scene of the crime. In talking with a neighbor later in the day he told me that a previous homeowner on my cul de sac had fed the herd on a daily basis...hence their sense of entitlement now. I cannot stress how important it is for the safety of people and dogs and the well being of wild life not to succumb to the temptation to feed them. It does no good to either man or beast. My solution is to fence in an area of my property that I want to be javelina proof and to leave the desert to them. Last night's invasion was a wake up call for me to get my fencing contractor to hustle! Photographs the morning after the crime...they came back! |
