Rough-ed up! Arizona golfers are left furious as huge pig-like javelinas rip up prestigious Seven Canyons Golf Club with massive divots across the fairway

Arizona golfers were outraged after huge pig-like spears tore apart the prestigious Seven Canyons Golf Club, leaving huge chasms across the fairway.

A viral video shows the golf course in Sedona, Arizona, being dug up by these wild pig-like creatures as they search for food, raising concerns among social media users about the extent of the damage.

The video, posted by Em Casey, assistant superintendent at Seven Canyons Golf Club, has been viewed 29 million times on X, formerly known as Twitter.

“What should be one of the most beautiful golf courses in the country is being destroyed by herds of javelina,” Casey said.

Casey told me Golf monthly that the groundskeepers apply chili oil to certain parts of the trail to deter javelinas, although the deterrent does not seem to work.

“These javelin throwers have a knack for digging things up,” general manager Dave Bisbee said in an interview with 12NEWS.

“They’re southwestern animals, they don’t like southwestern spiciness on their grass salad,” Bisbee said.

Native to the southwestern region of the United States and various parts of Central and South America, the Javelina is notorious for wreaking havoc as they roam earthly places.

The animals are protected in Arizona and culling the animals or setting traps are not an option for Casey and other staff.

Seven Canyons Golf Club has been dealing with the perpetrators for several weeks, but has managed to keep the course open.

Grounds crews spent 150 to 300 hours a week cleaning and repairing damage caused by the beast to maintain the pristine golf course.

Bisbee said the animals have been to the golf course before and seem to be drawn to the area during Sedona’s dry and hot summers.

“In all my time here, we’ve probably had seven cycles where the weather has created this whole phenomenon,” Bisbee said.

The prestigious course covers 200 acres, but is surrounded by 100,000 acres of Coconino National Forest.

Javelinas were apparently foraging for food on golf courses, said Russ McSpadden of the Center for Biological Diversity.

“They also eat a lot of cacti and other plants, and they are very good at dispersing seeds from native plants,” McSpadden said.

In addition to the chili oil, the Texas Wildlife Service said it is also looking at several other measures to discourage javelin throwing, including low-voltage electric fences and eliminating food sources to allow the animals to hunt elsewhere.

“One of the least understood and often feared animals that individuals come into contact with is the spear,” the report said. the guard.

‘But aggressive encounters with humans are very rare. (They) can be very troublesome for landowners as they become accustomed to homes and human activities.”