Newcomers to Southern California are warned that wandering coyotes will eat your small dogs and cats and that in foothill communities brown bears will eat your garbage and follow that up with a swim in your backyard pool.
Javelina warning
In Tucson, however, the day before Halloween, all the local TV stations broadcast a different kind of warning: do not place your decorative pumpkins on the ground in front of your home. Javelinas will come to your home and eat those pumpkins. They love love love pumpkins and will bring all their friends to gobble up the jack-o-lanterns, too.
What can be wrong about feeding wildlife–right?
Well, javelinas–which are peccaries, not pigs–can be dangerous to humans and dogs. And with as many large vacant lots and open spaces as there are around Tucson and the foothills, potentially there are javelinas everywhere. Literally everywhere. They’ve even been seen on streets downtown among the high rise buildings!
Happily, no javelina attacks were reported on Halloween 2019.
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