A Story of Life in New Mexico: Leftovers

The ongoing battle with the local Javelina population came to an end for one old male this spring who now is a permanent part of the property.  While cleaning the Painted Pony Resort after a set of guests left one of the cleaning crew pointed out a javelina on the property over by the hot tub.  Wandering toward him while yelling to encourage him to move along, he surprisingly did not respond.  Walking right up to him and he just stood there.  No threat display, no raised hackles, no aggressive behavior, he just stood there gazing back at me.  An old male, completely gray, he had seen better days.  Javelina have approached before while out in the field, but normally they run at the sight or smell of a human.  Approaching within 5 feet he looked up at me and fell over, his little feet moving like some weird cartoon character trying to run on air, followed by a cessation of motion.  I realize I may not be the handsomest man on the planet but this was the first time I had scared the wildlife, isn't supposed to be the other way around?  Walking back to get the tractor, the Javelina carcass was loaded and carried to the south end of the property where it was buried.  The plan was to bury the carcass then retrieve the skeleton at a later date and reassemble the complete Javelina skeleton for placement on the landscape as something unexpected for guests to find while out walking (something perhaps only a Biologist would think of doing).  Unfortunately the carcass was not buried deep enough and the local coyote population found the site, dug it up, and made a meal of him.  In the process most of the skeleton was scattered and missing, and only the skull was recovered.  So now the skull will become part of a large landscape art piece planned for an arroyo at the southeast corner of the property about the origin of barbwire fences.  Nothing is wasted here in the bubble.