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Javelinas Invade Phoenix Mobile Home Park
PHOENIX - Living here in the valley of the sun, it seems like we've seen it all when it comes to encounters with our local wildlife.
For residents of a Phoenix mobile home community on Thursday, things got a little crazy when some feisty invaders decided to drop in for breakfast.
After three weeks on the lamb, two javelinas are off of city streets and out of a mobile home park near 3rd Avenue and Bell Road. They were captured just after 9:00 a.m. Thursday and it's no surprise to Critter Control's Scott Patrick.
"If I hadn't been doing this for 20 years, I might be surprised at the amount of animals in town, we do it all the time, see it every day," he said.
The two likely used a storm drain opening in the block wall that leads to a wash to enter the park -- looking for something to eat, like the javelina pleasing prickly pear cactus fruit.
"We narrowed it down to two locations in the wash and then to one. They laid their traps and finally we got two," said park manager Paula Mann.
When these guys are trapped, they literally go hog wild. Most times, resulting in a bloody snout from having a bonafide hissy fit, but rest assured, the whole process is done humanely.
"If I ever have a javelina that doesn't bloody its nose, that one I'll be concerned about. They're wild animals and they don't like us," said Patrick.
For the residents living here, all of this seemed to come as a curious threat, yet startling at the same time.
One man said, "The thing is they've been out, we've had coyotes and seen them jump the fence in one leap. I didn't believe they were out here."
But not for long. Now these two are headed to their new home at the Southwest Wildlife Conservatory in Rio Verde.
Credits: By Jayme King - MyFoxPhoenix.com
Video - http://www.myfoxphoenix.com/dpp/morning_show/javelinas-invade-phoenix-mobile-home-park-09152011
