Neighbors in Gold Canyon are blaming a golf course for sending wild critters into their backyards.
People who live around the Gold Canyon Golf Resort said the course bulldozed a wash by the sixth fairway over the past three weeks – destroying the natural habitat.
“There were some beautiful trees down here. They didn't even try to transplant them,” said Craig Cameron, who lives within a hundred yards of the wash.
Instead of trees, there are now dozer tracks in the wash.
“There was an entire ecosystem there,” neighbor Rick Birchfield said. “The animals have no place to live. It's a big mistake.”
According to residents in the area, all that wildlife is moving into their backyards. Javelina tracks are everywhere around plants that the peccaries just won’t stop eating. Coyotes and javelina that had never before ventured out of the wash now pose a nightly threat to pets.
“He's a big dog, but I still don't want to run into one of those boars,” said Cameron, talking about his German Shepard.
Managers at the golf course told us a big flood during the last monsoon storm brought junk, trash, old tires and even a Jacuzzi tub and dropped it by the sixth fairway. The course said it had to clear it out the debri avoid future flooding and get rid of the junk.
Pinal County told us that dozing a wash on private land does not require permitting as long as it doesn't change the drainage path.
