These pigs have gone hog wild.
At the River Ridge Golf Club at 11022 Tee Time Circle in New Port Richey, there has been a small influx of wild pigs, some of which have torn up parts of the course. Though there hasn’t been any serious damage to any of the holes, superintendent and manager Jeff Condo says about 1 percent of the course’s 65 acres it maintains has been disturbed by these brash boars. “Mostly they have been digging around in the tree lines along the fairways and near ponds and in neighborhood yards,” Condo said. “There are just a few spots they’ve gotten on the holes, but nothing that will affect play.” The crew at the 68-par course has had a tough time keeping up with the pigs, since the course is also on a tight budget in this economy. They’ll repair any divots made by the pigs, but the course also has hired a fully licensed hunter to get rid of them. The hunter apparently does the work pro bono since he gets to keep the meat after a capture. Condo figures the pigs are coming out of the adjacent Jay B. Starkey Wilderness Park, which has wild turkey, white-tailed deer, gopher tortoises, eastern bluebirds, brown-headed nuthatches, Bachman’s sparrows, fox squirrels and sandhill cranes listed as watchable wildlife in the park, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission’s Web site. Condo says no golfers have seen them, only homeowners on the course, and the pigs didn’t even do enough damage to stop a golf scramble event the course hosted April 25.
“It’s almost a daily thought that we have to go look for any extra damage done to the course,” Condo said. “It’s like having to worry about vandalism all the time.”