Residents of Rock Crest are recovering this morning from a savage pillaging mounted by an itinerant band of wild javelina.
"They got us last night," muttered Al Sorrentino. "They come in packs and they are pretty vicious. Don't leave your garage door open at night," he advised a gape-mouthed St. Paul Katie. "And be careful for your little dog. We've got coyotes too. He would be a real nice taste for them" Sheesh.
The wild boar-looking beasts apparently know when trash day is, unlike Stan and Kathleen, who had to check by email to see just when that might be. They were reassured not to worry about the trash getting dumped. "Nobody seems to have a problem keeping their containers out over night," Saddlebrooke Vet Virgil nodded.
"Oh, it happens about twice a year," a sleepy-eyed Vic Garcia said this morning, meekly bending over his spilled collection of kleenex, bottles, newspapers and miscellaneous.
"By the way, nice to meet you. My wife was the chairman of the social club in the neighborhood and they have stuff planned. I think there is a tea soon," he said, looking in Kathleen's direction.
"Oh, so you mean we don't have to wait for the pigs to come through town to meet socially?" Stan said, trying not to be too much of a smart ass.
Over on the other side of the street, Bill Shiplock and his dog, Willie, inspected his neighbor Leno and Carol Masolini's trash. Bill, perhaps a bit smugly, pointed out the bungee cord on his barrel, which had been passed up by the rampaging peccary. Bill said the droves come in families, usually about a dozen. The alpha boar can weigh 300 pounds.
"Can't you just shoo them away?" Kathleen asked, suddenly realizing that she wouldn't try that anyway.
The collared peccary resembles a wild boar but is unrelated to the pigs.
It has a heavily built body covered with coarse hair, a heavy snout, and a distinct collar of light-colored hair around the neck.
These animals are common in the southern desert regions of Arizona, New Mexico and Texas, where they frequent the shrubby areas and canyons. They favor the saguaro-paloverde regions and mixed shrub grassland.
They roam the desert in loose groups of 8 to 12 (but up to 30) individuals, each group being led by an older sow. They are territorial.
It is unknown which group has claimed rights to Saddlebooke.
