(NewsReady.com) – Maintaining a golf course takes a lot of work. Teams spend hours making sure the grounds are well cared for and properly landscaped to provide the best environment and experience for their players. However, sometimes, despite their best efforts, wildlife interferes and causes havoc. Staff at an Arizona golf course have come up with a solution to keep javelinas out: chili oil.
Javelinas are a pig-like creature found throughout the southwestern area of North America. They are herbivores and prone to tearing up landscaping in their foraging efforts. The owners of Seven Canyons Golf Club in Sedona are not fans of the critters because they are tearing up the turf on the courses.
A video on X, formerly Twitter, showing the damage to the course went viral. It has amassed more than 32 million views as of the time of writing.
lol except I’ve watched them do it…it’s 100% javelina. We’ve got between 100-150 of them. Somewhere between 4-5 herds surround the golf course property
— Em Casey (@emcaseyturf) October 23, 2023
Experts believe that the abnormally hot summers have driven the javelinas to attack the greens. However, staff at Seven Canyons have been collaborating with the Arizona Game and Fish Department to come up with a solution and believe that chili oil is the answer.
General manager Dave Bisbee jokingly said that despite the critters being from the Southwest, “they don’t like Southwest seasoning.” Now, the job is to figure out the delicate balance of deterring the javelinas while at the same time preserving the grass on the golf course. Too much and it could kill the grass; too little and it’s not going to keep the creatures away.
Right now, according to wildlife officials, the golf course has to contend with 30 to 50 squadrons—the name for a group of javelinas. Each squadron has between six and nine of the animals. This golf course isn’t the only one to suffer such damage; there are others as well. Time will tell if the chili oil does the job.
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