The Bay Areas Golf Course Bandit has struck again. In this case, the bandit is a fox that burglarizes golf carts.
Charles Lucke tells a story for the holidays that he, too, is among the victims.
A young fox stole my driver head cover out of the cart, Lucke said. I chased him for 40 yards or so, when he dropped it. He looked up at me as if to say, That was a fun game, what do we play next?
A series of encounters similar to this have occurred at the Tony Lema Golf Course at Monarch Bay in San Leandro.
Lucke said he returned with his pocket camera to the course. Again, the fox sneaked up on him and staked out his golf court, apparently waiting for it to be left unattended, when the fox could then nab anything available. Instead, Lucke took an amazing series of photographs in which the fox looks something like a character out of a cartoon.
Maybe it is. Herb Clore, president of the San Leandro Golf Club, said he has received many reports that the fox has stolen items out of golf carts.
The last five incidents include cell phones, a whiskey flask, a wallet, and car keys. In the last case, the golfer chased the bandit fox into adjoining wetlands, where it dropped the wallet but not the keys, Clore said.
During the drought, wildlife found that golf courses across California provided habitat where they could survive. They have ponds with water, plenty of grass and, for many prey species, plenty of people, meaning that major predators would stay clear.
Many golf courses have become home for small but healthy resident deer herds that have learned to never stray far from the course. Foxes, too, seem to thrive at golf courses, including those on the San Francisco coast. Golfers have sighted pheasants at Harding Park. Courses with large ponds have been ideal for migratory waterfowl and songbirds, especially resident Canada geese.
Farther north, Dave Clarke said he has tracked the arrival of fairly rare yellow-headed blackbirds the past few years at Lake Shastina. In Southern California, Tony DiTonno reported seeing herds of bighorn sheep on rocky hillsides above golf courses near La Quinta (Riverside County).
One time we were very near to the side of a mountain and heard some rocks fall, and only then could we see the eight to 10 sheep that were right there, DiTonno wrote. Their natural camouflage concealed them so well. Magnificent animals.
As wildlife numbers have increased at golf courses in the past few years, Lucke said his perspective on playing golf has changed with it. I play golf to exercise, commune with nature and all her critters, he said, and lastly try to improve my ball striking.
