RADICAL ECOLOGISTS

Javelinas repeatedly tear up the turf at Arizona golf course

Nov. 7 (UPI) -- Officials at an Arizona golf course said costs are quickly mounting from vandalism by a pack of local troublemakers -- pig-like javalinas.

Javelinas, also known as peccaries, musk hogs and skunk pigs, have repeatedly ravaged the turf at the 7,000-yard Seven Canyons golf club in Sedona in their search for worms.

"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."

Arizona law forbids the killing or injuring of javelinas, and wildlife officials will only relocate the animals as a last resort, as they rarely survive long after being taken from familiar surroundings.

Bisbee said the club put up fencing to try to keep the animals out, but officials are now considering more robust barriers after the javelinas continued to tear up the course.

"We've been working really closely with game and fish and forestry service here to figure out ways to co-exist with them," Bisbee told KSAZ-TV.