BOSTON (AP) — Canoeists and crew teams are an everyday sight on the Charles River in Needham. Alligators aren’t quite as common.

But on Thursday, canoeist Topher Cox of Needham spotted a four-foot long alligator in the river.

He took a picture with his cell phone, then used it to call 911. Eventually, Michael Ralbovsky from Rainforest Reptile Shows found the gator and grabbed it with his bare hands.

Ralbovsky told The Boston Globe on Friday that the reptile didn’t fight much because it was cold. It was spotted as early as Saturday, likely after its owner illegally released it.

Ralbovsky said the animal was healthy. He said it will be used in Rainforest Reptile shows until it gets too large, when it will be transferred to an alligator farm in Texas or Florida.

via WCSH6.com | Portland, ME |.

Chicago – An alligator that was spotted in the Chicago River Sunday and evaded capture Monday was caught by an expert on Tuesday.

The 3 foot long animal was spotted under the Belmont Street bridge, and a reptile expert who goes by “Alligator Bob” was able to sneak up on it and catch it.

FOX Chicago News cameras spotted the gator Tuesday morning after a reported sighting Monday afternoon. It was seen sunning itself in the river several times since then.

Wildlife experts set traps Monday night, hoping to catch the creature before it hurt anyone. Alligator Bob, who goes by the name to protect his identity, worked with animal control to trap the gator.

He works with the Chicago Herpetological Society and is not an employee of animal control, but the department works with him on reptiles because he is more knowledgeable and experienced in catching them, said Executive Director of Animal Care and Control Cherie Travis.

“They don’t belong in Chicago, they belong in the souther states,” Bob said.  He said they would try to find a new home for it in Florida after a period in quarantine.

Children along the river were asking him if he’s the man that catches all the gators.  He said he’s caught many, but some have gotten away.  This particular alligator seemed to have been a tricky one.

Travis said Alligator Bob caught the last gator in the river in less than a day.

Alligators are not native to Chicago, and experts believe the ones found in the river were bought as pets when they were young and abandoned when they got too large.

Bob suspected the animal liked the part of the river where it was originally spotted because the water was stagnant and had a layer of scum on top of it.

Travis said the animal wouldn¿t be able to survive the winter.

Alligators are about 9 inches long when babies, but can live 30 years and grow to be over 10 feet.

It is a crime in Chicago to abandon an animal where it can be a public charge or suffer injury, hunger or exposure. There is also a civil liability if someone is injured by the animal.

Travis said anyone who buys a pet but realizes they can no longer take care of it should call animal control for help in finding it a sanctuary.

via Gator in Chicago River Captured by Expert ‘Alligator Bob’.

GOLDEN GATE ESTATES — An 18-year-old Golden Gate Estates man, who lost his hand after an alligator attack in the Estates on Sunday night, may be getting back what he lost.

Timothy J. Delano, 18, was swimming in a drainage canal called “The Chrystal” near the intersection of Everglades Boulevard and 42nd Avenue when a 10-foot alligator bit his left hand off, said FWC spokeswoman Gabriella Ferraro.

Delano and two companions fled the canal and went to a gas station at Wilson and Golden Gate boulevards to call 911 at approximately 9:30 p.m., said Collier Emergency Medical Services spokeswoman Cherie Wilson-Watson.

Delano was airlifted to the Lee Memorial Hospital trauma center in Fort Myers by Collier EMS, officials said.

Ferraro said a trapper was able to find the attacking alligator last night. The gator was “harvested” and the victim’s hand was found in its stomach.

Attempts could be made to reattach the Delano’s hand, Ferraro said.

“Our goal is always to make a person whole again,” she said.

Delano is in good condition, reported Lee Memorial spokeswoman Pat Dolce.

Ferraro said people should recognize that any fresh water body in Florida could have alligators. She said those animals are most active at dawn and dusk.

via Alligator bites 18-year-old’s hand off; gator caught and hand recovered » Naples Daily News.

WEST ASHLEY, SC (WCSC) — What started out as an early morning dog walk turned in to a battle of life or death for William Belch of West Ashley.

Belch said he was walking his grandchildren’s German Sheppard, Dutchess, near a community pond in the Hamilton Grove subdivision around 7 a.m. Sunday.  Suddenly, according to Belch, a sharp movement in the water caught the attention of Dutchess who broke free from his grasp and headed directly toward the water.

“It was so quick!” recalled Belch.  “Like a snake striking out!”

Within seconds, what Belch described as an eight foot alligator had Dutchess in its jaws, dragging the 80-pound dog into the water.

“I knew it was my grandchildren’s dog and that I would have no way of explaining to them that [the dog] had been killed by a gator, so I just reacted on instinct.”

Which meant Belch was going to get in the water. He spent the next 30 seconds in a three-way tug of war; one hand pulling Dutchess, the other thrashing the alligator on the nose.

After a trip to a local veterinarian Dutchess will make a full recovery. The dog has some scarring on her legs and skull.  While animal safety is a top concern, admits Belch, it’s not his only worry.

“The neighborhood is lined with houses, all filled with small children,” Belch said.  “Something is going to happen. Something tragic. I just know it.”

Belch’s daughter, Joanna Robbs, said she has called her homeowners association as well as the Department of Natural Resources about alligator problems in the past.

“Usually they tell us [the alligators] are more afraid of humans and pets than anything else,” Robbs said. “Clearly, this isn’t the case.”

Robbs and Belch both say that, in their observation, the alligators that do inhabit the pond make their way from a heavily wooded swamp area that surrounds much of Hamilton Grove.  Robbs also said that the Department of Natural Resources has told her that due to the close proximity of the alligators natural habitat to the neighborhood, it is hard to do anything drastic about the situation.

“They expect us to live side by side, but that just isn’t safe,” Robbs said.  “An alligator can grab an 80-pound dog, it can grab a 50-pound child.”

Both Belch and Robbs agree killing the alligators is not the best method of control, however.

“Fences, barricades, something,” Belch said. “Something has to be done before it is too late.”

Follow up calls to the Department of Natural Resources and the local homeowners association will be made when offices resume business on Monday Robbs said.

via West Ashley alligator attack spikes safety concerns – CHARLESTON, SC NEWS – LIVE 5 WCSC Breaking News, Weather, Sports.

LAKELAND, Fla. – Tiger is taking it easy, spending the day in bed lying down. His owner Vivian Rovelo says this pit bull doesn't even have the energy to go outside.

“He didn't eat yesterday,” she said.

Vivian says normally the dog is very active.

“Yes. Running, playing, you can't imagine. He's a very excited dog.”

Tiger needs his rest a day after surviving an alligator attack at Lake Hunter just south of downtown Lakeland.

The dog was going for a walk around the lake, as he often does with Vivan's husband Oscar. With soaring temperatures, Tiger needed a water break.

“He was going to the lake, because it was hot. And the alligator attacked. The alligator wanted to take him,” said Rovelo.

Tiger fought back and got out of the alligator's grip. Then Vivian's husband pulled him to safety with the leash.

“He said, oh! Tiger, Tiger! And he pulled him out and the alligator was gone,” she said.

There are plenty battle scars, scrapes and scratches all over Tiger's body. But it appears he may have hurt the gator too. One of Tiger's teeth is cut in half.

And while there are alligator warning signs around the lake, Vivian says more are needed. “Let me tell you, you have to be careful in the lakes, everybody. Everybody walks over there, with dogs, with kids.”

Florida Fish and Wildlife officials do advise pets to swim, exercise, or drink near places alligators call home.

Vivan hopes Tiger is up and around and back to his old self soon. In the meantime, she's giving him love, and the run of a big comfy bed.

via Pit bull recovering from gator attack.

This is an old story, but an interesting one.

MIAMI — Florida had seen just 17 confirmed fatal alligator attacks in the previous 58 years. In less a week, there appears to have been three.

The bodies of two women were found Sunday some 130 miles apart.

Annemarie Campbell, 23, of Paris, Tenn., was attacked while snorkeling in a secluded recreation area near Lake George, said state wildlife spokeswoman Kat Kelley. The lake is about 50 miles southeast of Gainesville.

“The people she was staying with came around and found her inside the gator's mouth,” said Marion County Fire-Rescue Capt. Joe Amigliore.

By poking the alligator's eyes and trying to open its jaws, the men were able to free Campbell's body, but she was dead when they found her, the Ocala Star-Banner reported.

Her stepfather, who had tried to help her, was treated on the scene for a hand injury.

“You just don't think of your daughter dying from an alligator,” Campbell's mother, Dawn Marie Yankeelov, told the newspaper.

Authorities estimate the animal was 7 to 9 feet long.

In Pinellas County, the body of another woman apparently killed by an alligator was found in a canal 20 miles north of St. Petersburg, authorities said.

Judy W. Cooper's body had been in the water for about three days, authorities said.

The 43-year-old Dunedin woman suffered animal bites that were consistent with an alligator, which “did play some part in the victim's death,” according to a preliminary autopsy. The cause of death was pending and the medical examiner's final report will not be released for at least four weeks, the sheriff's office said.

“We don't know the condition she was in when this happened,” state wildlife spokesman Gary Morse said.

It was not immediately known why Cooper was in the area where wildlife officials said alligators are frequently spotted.

Cooper's family had not heard from her for about three months and she had a history of drug abuse, her sister, Dannette Goodrich, told The Orlando Sentinel.

Gary Goodrich, Cooper's brother-in-law, told the newspaper that officials said her purse was found near the water and drugs may have played a factor.

Authorities were baiting traps in their searches for both gators Sunday.

On Wednesday, construction workers found the dismembered body of a Florida Atlantic University student in a canal near Fort Lauderdale. A medical examiner concluded that the 28-year-old woman was attacked near the canal bank and dragged into the water.

On Saturday, wildlife officers captured an 9-foot, 6-inch alligator in Sunrise that they believe fatally attacked Yovy Suarez Jimenez while she was out jogging.

Suarez's death was the 18th confirmed fatal alligator attack in Florida since 1948. Nine other previous deaths are unconfirmed, mainly because it was not clear whether the person was already dead when the alligator attacked.

What provoked the attacks in three separate Florida counties was unknown, but state wildlife officials said alligators are generally on the move looking for mates and food this time of year.

“As the weather heats up, the alligators' metabolism increases and they have to eat more,” Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission spokesman Willie Puz said Sunday. “They might be moving more, but that just shouldn't mean increased alligator attacks.”

Florida residents are warned not to swim in heavily vegetated areas, feed wildlife or walk pets near the water, especially between dusk and dawn when gators are more active, Morse said.

via Florida Marks Third Deadly Alligator Attack 5/15/06 | abc7.com.

Not be confused with Entophobia, the fear of ancient, walking talking tree people, entomophobia is the fear that insects will crawl into your ears, eyes, nose and mouth to eventually lay eggs on your brain.  Contestants on Fear Factor have bunjee jumped off helicopters, but ask them to lie in a coffin filled with bugs and their courage crumbles.  So why is it that we, the dominating species on the planet, capable of jumping out of airplanes, wrestling alligators, and rushing into burning buildings to rescue babies, are so utterly terrified of creatures hundreds of times smaller than us?  The following are some of the most horrifying, agony-inducing, flesh-melting, downright dangerous insects known to man.  10 damned good reasons to be afraid…very afraid!

Brazilian Wandering Spider

This little beauty is not only the world’s most venomous spider, according to the Guinness Book of World Records, but is also believed to be responsible for the most human deaths. These deadly arachnids got their name because, unlike most spiders, they don’t hang out in a web or a lair at night, but wander the jungle floor looking for prey—though these pests are increasingly found in cities. During the day Wandering Spiders hide in termite mounds, under logs or sometimes in banana plants.

The venom these spiders produce is similar to the neurotoxin found in Black Widow Spiders, causing pain, cold sweats and an irregular heart beat. It’s believed that between the year 1970 and 1980 Brazilian Wandering Spiders were responsible for hospitalizing about 7,000 people in southern Brazil.

If it doesn’t manage to kill you, however, there are some pretty embarrassing side effects that come with this spider bite.

Africanized Honey Bee (a.k.a. Killer Bees)

The world is full of dangerous things that can kill us, but we only have ourselves to blame for this one folks. Back in the day settlers in North and South America wanted a hardy bee that produced a lot of honey. Well, European bees were bigger and produced more honey, but they were kind of frail. African bees, though tough, were much smaller.

So to get the best of both worlds, they bred these two bees together. This produced a race of large, very aggressive honey bees with a habit of absconding (or abandoning their hives to start new ones elsewhere). These bees are hyper-defensive and attack relentlessly in giant swarms when threatened.

If an Africanized honey bee stings you they not only release their venom, but they release a banana-scented pheromone which signals the other bees to attack.  You can withstand approximately 7 stings for every pound you weigh before your life is in serious danger. These bees have been known to swarm and attack as far as ¼ mile from their hive, and can sting up to 500 times in 30 seconds.  You do the math.

These bees used to dwell mostly in South America, but have been migrating further and further north in recent years.

Giant Japanese Hornet (a.k.a Asian Hornet)

No, that picture isn’t Photoshopped. The bug is really that big. When these puppies aren’t picking fights with entire bee hives or eating honey bee larva, they can be found stinging annoying humans in the Tokyo region with their 6mm stingers (that’s about a quarter inch).

Not only are these bugs frighteningly big, but they’re also frighteningly dangerous. Giant hornet venom is more potent than that of its smaller, puny relatives; it’s a mixture of acetylcholine—which causes a lot of pain—and an enzyme that’s capable of dissolving human flesh. People who have experienced being bitten by these bugs say it feels like a hot nail being driven through your flesh. And once you’ve pissed one of these guys off it will chase you for over three miles. Each year in Japan, Giant Hornets kill more people than all other venomous and non-venomous animals combined.

Siafu Ants

Found mostly in central and east Africa, these ants aren’t so tough on their own. Problem is, you’re not very likely to find one of these little guys by themselves. Siafu Ants live in giant colonies of about 20 million individuals.

When food gets low the ants set out in search of food in columns that can consist of as many as 50 million ants. And that’s when you don’t want to mess with them. The columns defend themselves viciously, and have a military structure complete with sentries that set up a perimeter corridor to protect the smaller members of the colony. You’re not in too much trouble as long as you can run away from a column, but if you’re sick or debilitated or just generally stuck in one place these ants can kill you and consume your entire body. Most people die of asphyxiation rather than the painful venomous bite. These ants have such powerful jaws that in East Africa, people used them to perform emergency sutures.

Bullet Ant

So maybe swarms of tiny ants don’t scare you. How about this giant screaming mofo? That’s right, screaming. Bullet Ants hail from the low land rainforests of Nicaragua and Paraguay. Each ant is about an inch long and lives in a tree colony. When a predator approaches the colony some of these bad boys drop down onto it, letting out a shriek before they do.
While not the deadliest insect, the Bullet Ant’s sting is said to be the most painful in the world, according to the Schmidt Sting Pain Index. The insect’s sting causes waves of burning, throbbing, mind-blowing, pain that doesn’t stop for 24 hours. It hurts so much it feels like you’ve been shot with a bullet (Get it? Bullet Ant?)

Some South American societies use the Bullet Ant to test the manhood of young boys, making them endure 20 stings without crying out before they can be considered men. Some white people think that sounds cool and decide to do it just for kicks.

African Assassin Bug

This brightly-coloured bug is said to have venom 10 times more potent than a cobra, which it can either spit at or inject into its prey. One bug won’t kill a human, but get bit by enough and you’ll be in trouble.

The Assassin Bug’s venom, rather than paralyzing its prey, will liquefy their insides. It uses its proboscis to suck the liquid insides from its prey or to bite unsuspecting human beings. The Assassin hunts by covering itself with the dead bodies of past meals. When an unsuspecting insect wanders by and thinks one of the empty bug husks looks tasty, the Assassin Bug dumps the decoys and pounces.

Some brave—or crazy—humans have taken to keeping these bugs as pets because they can control most pest problems very efficiently. Other people keep them as pets so they can videotape them hunting, set it to whimsical music and post it all on YouTube.

Kissing bugs

These bugs aren’t really deadly because of their venom or because they’re particularly fearsome. Kissing bugs are dangerous because they infect human beings with Chaga’s disease. These insects don’t die after biting so it’s possible for them to bite multiple humans and pass the Chaga’s parasite along.  The bugs hide inside houses and drops down onto people while they’re sleeping, biting the soft tissue of the lips and eyes. Chaga’s disease, however, is actually passed to a new host through the bug’s feces that enter the human body through the wounds it inflicts.

As of 2008, 16 to 18 million people were infected with the disease, with 20,000 dying of the affliction yearly. Chaga’s causes sever heart damage. Heart transplants for victims are ineffective because the parasite just ruins the new heart as well.

Mosquito

Okay, so we’ve all seen Mosquitoes before and they’re not particularly terrifying. But their kill rate certainly should scare you. These blood suckers kill more people than all of the flying menaces and deadly spiders combined. Mosquitoes pass along diseases like yellow fever, denegue fever, Chikungunya, West Nile virus and the ever popular malaria. It’s estimated that in Africa alone mosquitos are responsible for infecting 700 million people with disease, killing 2 million in their infectious wake.

via 10 Most Terrifying and Dangerous Insects.

It seems that as the mating season of the Alligators is nearing, the reptiles are busy finding a mate.

On Monday a 7-feet long alligator was found in a middle School in the coastal city of Tampa. The alligator was found roaming in the premise of the school building and reports claim that the authorities informed the Tampa police department at around 7 p.m.

The students of the school who had started arriving by then were kept away from the alligators. Before the police arrived to take hold of the situation and trap the alligator, the staff members of the school were able to coax the alligator and trap him inside the boy’s bathroom. The Police arrived with trappers from the Florida’s Fish and Wildlife Service to capture the alligator.

Marc Pellicano, a sixth-grade science teacher of the school has revealed to media sources that he noticed the giant alligator just after getting out of his car in the parking area of the school on Monday morning.

He said that he immediately got to action to see to it that the alligator did not attack anybody or nobody got close enough to the alligator. The alligator then according to another teacher entered the school building and stopped in front of the cafeteria.

From there on it was coaxed by the staff members into the toilet and locked from outside until the trappers and the police arrived.

David Rocco, one of the school teachers said that the alligator was not aggressive and that the only time it got a bit aggressive was when the noose was put around it.

Gary Morse of Florida’s Fish and Wildlife Service speculated that the alligator might have entered the school on Friday before the gates were shut.

via 7-Feet Long Gator Found In A Tampa Middle School.

Link

IMAGES: Swimmer Survives Gator Attack
VIDEO: Victim | Gator Captured

Doug McCard, 35, said he was out for an early-morning swim on Sunday to train for a triathlon when the attack occurred.

He described his ordeal at Lake Mary Jane in Moss Park that sent him to the emergency room in detail.

“I knew I was in really shallow water, maybe waist deep, so I tried to spin myself and stand up and started swinging. Got a pretty good elbow to his head and he released me,” McCard said.

McCard said he’s been swimming in Lake Mary Jane since he’s been a boy, so the attack came as a shock.

Park personnel will continue to monitor the area for alligators.

Link

Moncks Corner, SC – According to authorities, a woman that was walking a trail in Moncks Corner was bitten by an alligator Monday afternoon.

Officials say the attack happened at Cypress Gardens when the woman was walking a trail with her husband. Investigators say a 5 to 6-foot alligator bit the woman’s hand and leg.

Department of Natural Resources officials are searching for the gator but so far there haven’t been any sightings. Guests at Cypress Gardens are warned about the possibility of seeing animals and are told to keep their distance, but park officials say this time of year it is not unusual to see a dangeous gator.

Director of Cypress Gardens Dwight Williams says,”One of the attractions of Cypress Gardens is the possibility of seeing wild alligators. We don’t know how many are in the swamp. On a day like today, it is typical to see alligators sunning themselves beside the swamp as spring comes.”

Berkeley County took over control of Cypress Gardens in 1996 and officials say there have not been any alligator attacks here since that time. The victim has been taken to MUSC.

Authorities say the woman was able to walk out of the park on her own. Officials don’t believe her injuries to be life threatening.

Link

Officials believe they have found an alligator that escaped from a wildlife officer who brought the animal to his daughter’s school for show and tell.

Stan Kirkland, a spokesman for the Florida wildlife commission, says officials think the 5-foot alligator is in a Panhandle pond. Authorities weren’t able to capture the gator Friday.

Searchers scoured a wooded area surrounding the school Friday afternoon after the alligator jumped out of the man’s vehicle with its mouth taped shut.

Kirkland says alligators have “amazing” jumping ability and that allowed it to escape.

Link

Bob Schenck waded through the leech-filled swamp, creeping closer to the alligator.

“It was waiting, aggressive and ready to attack,” Schenck said today. When the moment was right, he pounced, maneuvering around the 5-foot reptile’s open jaws as he subdued it on Sunday.

Schenck with alligator

Schenk wasn’t in Africa, or even Florida. He was tangling with the stray 50-pound reptile in a dirty drainage ditch behind a Fall River mall.The gator was spotted several times Sunday near Route 24 in Fall River, according to authorities. Animal control officers and Schenck, who owns a pet store in the city, responded about 4:30 p.m. after a police officer reported a sighting, said Cynthia Berard, Fall River’s animal control supervisor.

Link

A 77-year-old man lost his arm below the elbow Thursday when he was attacked by an alligator while playing golf on Fripp Island.

The man, the father of a Fripp Island property owner, was playing the 11th hole of the island’s Ocean Creek Golf Course at about 3 p.m. when the attack occurred. The victim was leaning down to pick up his ball when a 10-foot long alligator grabbed his arm, said Kate Hines, general manager of the Fripp Island Property Owners Association.

Hines said the alligator dragged the man into a nearby pond and went into a series of “death rolls,” a technique the reptile uses to tear apart its food. The man lost his arm in the struggle.

The man’s golf buddies were able to free him from the alligator’s grasp and called 911. They kept an eye on the alligator until workers from Tracks Wildlife Control in Beaufort arrived, Hines said.

The victim, visiting family on the island, was taken to Beaufort Memorial Hospital.Tracks workers killed the alligator and performed a necropsy at the scene to remove the man’s arm from the animal’s digestive track, Hines said.

The arm was stored in a cooler in the hopes of re-attaching it. The victim was flown at about 5:30 p.m. to the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston. His condition was unknown late Thursday night.

There have been 10 confirmed alligator attacks in the past 25 years in South Carolina, according to state’s Department of Natural Resources. DNR estimates that 100,000 to 200,000 American alligators live along South Carolina’s coasts.

Thursday’s attack could have been caused by any number of factors, said Joe Maffo, owner of Critter Management, a Hilton Head Island business specializing in alligator removal.

“It could have been a mother protecting her brood, this alligator may have been fed before by people or it could have been a dominance thing and the alligator felt he was trespassing,” Maffo said. “These kinds of attacks are very, very unusual and very, very unfortunate. It’s sad.”

Link

Texas-born Simon Hughes, 5, doesn’t look intimidating. But put a gun in his hands and pit him against an 800-pound alligator and it’s a different story.

Simon’s been training to handle a gun since he was just 4, his dad told MyFOXHouston — and it’s a good thing, too, or else he could’ve gotten hurt by the mega-gator that wound up on the Hughes family ranch.

The huge alligator bit into a baited hook in a marsh on the property, coming face-to-face with Simon. The boy reacted with lightning speed, grabbing his gun and shooting the reptile in the head.

“It come out, the biggest alligator I’ve ever seen,” Simon told MyFOXHouston. “He did his death roll.”

The reptile was nearly 20 times the 3-foot, 44-pound boy’s size. It didn’t survive the shooting.

Click here for video.

His dad Scott Hughes said there’s a reason he started training his son, who is in kindergarten, to shoot guns at such an early age.

“Everything on the ranch will either bite you or stick you,” he told MyFOXHouston.

Link

CLEARWATER, FL — Authorities say a Clearwater woman walking her dog by a lake was bitten by an 8-foot alligator but managed to escape.

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission reports that 48-year-old Diane Blackwood was just a few feet from the lake Monday afternoon when she noticed a swirl in the water. The alligator attacked, and her dog ran away.

Blackwood says the gator clamped down on her left calf and began pulling her toward the water. She was able to jab the animal in the eye with her thumb, which gave her a chance to get away.

Blackwood was taken to a nearby hospital where she was treated for the bite.

Trappers caught an alligator Tuesday and were able to match its bite to Blackwood’s injury.

The alligator was killed, and its meat and hide will be sold.

©2009 Associated Press

Link

• Alligator bite fact sheet
• Guide to living with gators (.pdf)
• Email TV reporter Josh Rojas

PINELLAS COUNTY (Bay News 9) — A Clearwater woman is the first person in more than three years to be attacked by an alligator in Pinellas County.

Diane Blackwood, 48, was walking her dog on a leash Monday afternoon at Sawgrass Lake Park in St. Petersburg when she noticed a swirl in the water.

“I was standing under a tree for some shade,’ she said. “My dog was near the water when I noticed some swirling water. I knew it was a gator and called for my dog as I turned to run away. That’s when I slipped and fell on the embankment. My dog ran away.”

The gator missed her on the first lunge, but it was not deterred. It grabbed her on the second lunge.

“As I was trying to crawl away the gator lunged and missed me,’ she said. “I thought okay I’m going to get away. Then the gator lunged a second time and bit my calf.”

The reptile also bit Blackwood’s hand as she tried to free her calf from its jaws.

“I went for his eyes because I didn’t want to play tug of war with my thumb in the gators mouth,’ Blackwood said. “And once I got my other hand in its eye socket the gator let go and went back into the water.”

Blackwood then drove herself to the hospital. She said she feels okay, but she is still a little sore from her encounter.

Alligator control agent Charles Carpenter caught that alligator on Thursday.

“Called in the information to the state, and the Fish and Wildlife decided that with this size, he fits the description,” Carpenter said.

The alligator is about 6-feet-9, but it is missing 12 inches of his tail, which means it is nearly eight feet long.

Ironically, Blackwood has a Ph.D. in Wildlife and Fisheries Science and her husband just got a job with FWC. The couple moved to Clearwater from Michigan last month.

Blackwood says she was looking at purchasing a house near the park the day she was bitten by the gator.

“What we heard was that this particular gator was about the only one in the lake that was not afraid of humans,” Blackwood said. “Which is a pretty good indication that people have been feeding the gators.”

Officials with Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission said they believe the combination of the gator’s familiarity with humans and the dog near the water triggered the attack.

Blackwood is the first person to be attacked by a gator in more than three years in Pinellas County. There have been 14 alligator attacks in Pinellas County since 1948.

The last attack, in May 2006, was a deadly one. The body of Judy Cooper, 43, was found in a canal near Oldsmar, three days after she had been attacked by an alligator.

Alligator bites in Bay area (1948-present)

County	#of bites	Most Recent
Citrus	4	May 1999
Hernando	2	July 1993
Hillsborough	11	April 2008
Manatee	5	January 2005
Pasco	11	February 2007
Pinellas	14	May 2006
Polk	24	August 2007

Link

LAS VEGAS — Animal control officials say a man angling for catfish at a Sunset Park lake instead reeled in a 3 1/2-foot-long alligator.

The healthy juvenile reptile was euthanized, and Clark County Animal Control Supervisor Dave March says it was probably released recently into the man-made lake. March says it couldn’t have gone unnoticed for long.

The fisherman secured the alligator with fishing line until authorities arrived.

Doug Nielsen, a Nevada Wildlife Department spokesman, says the alligator’s appearance at the lake fits a pattern.

Nielsen says people may go on vacation, see a small alligator and bring it back as a pet. But the animal can get big and aggressive – that’s when it ends up in local waters.

Importing and owning alligators is illegal in Nevada.

Link

Swimmer possibly attacked by alligator

JACKSON, MS (WLBT) – According to witnesses, an alligator attacked a swimmer in the Pearl River Sunday afternoon.

Fishermen at the scene said a man was swimming in the river near Laurel Street in the Belhaven Area of Jackson.

Police said the 24-year-old was with a group of friends from Clinton.

Witnesses said he unknowingly swam toward an alligator then went under the water.

The search began around three o’clock.

Rescue crews from the Jackson and Pearl Fire Departments called off the search at night fall.

Friends say they looked for the Hinds Community College student when they discovered him missing.

“By the time we got to where we had last seen him some fishermen told us that they saw him go under water and he never came back up,” said friend Brandon Johnson.

“We have fishermen who where on the bank who told us that they have seen gators in this little stretch of the river sometime this afternoon; however, it’s just too early to speculate what may have happened to the missing individual,” said Jackson Police Dept. Lt. Jeffery Scott.

Police have not released the man’s name and said the search will resume Monday morning.

According to the Mississippi Department of Wildlife Fisheries and Parks web site, Mississippi has never documented an alligator attack.

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Alligator Attack Victim Facing Huge Hospital Bill

Man Attacked By Gator While Fishing Doesn’t Have Insurance, Money To Pay Bill

POSTED: 12:07 am EDT May 29, 2009

FORT PIERCE, Fla. – An Okeechobee County man survived an alligator attack, but now he has to pay his hospital bills.

 

While Antonio Prado’s physical wound heals, it’s the financial wound his family is taking that could do more damage. 

Prado has been recovering at Lawnwood Regional Medical Center since Monday — a stay that is going to cost him more than $60,000. His family members are trying to figure out how they are going to come up with the money. 

The 47-year-old father of six was fishing in a canal near Lake Okeechobee on Memorial Day and was retrieving his fishing net from the water when an alligator bit him across the arm and chest, dragging him under. 

Prado said his 24-year-old son saw his father go under, ran into the water and threw a pair of pliers at the gator’s head. The gator then released Prado, and his son pulled him out of the water. 

Trappers later removed an 11-foot alligator believed to have been responsible for the attack. 

Prado said the pain is gone and he’s ready to get out of the hospital. 

“Since he’s diabetic, they want to make sure that he doesn’t get any infections or anything, which is good,” said Prado’s daughter, Leticia Salazar. “I mean, we’d rather him be bored than something else happen.” 

However, staying another night in the hospital bed adds to the already exorbitant bill. The self-employed truck driver doesn’t have insurance and doesn’t have the money to pay out of pocket. 

“It’s over $60,000, so he’s like, ‘Oh my God,’ and that’s another thing that has him worried,” Salazar said. “But all of us say, ‘You know what? You’re safe. You’re alive. We’ll just have to worry about that later.’” 

Throughout the ordeal, his family members have been by his side, and that’s what they said they’ll continue to do. 

“Probably have to say hello to credit cards again, what else?” Salazar said. “And then pay them off, you know. Credit cards, at least you can make payments on it.” 

Prado said his physical wounds are healing very well, and doctors said they think he should be able to go home Friday. Prado said it could be weeks before he’s back to driving his truck.

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Alligator shows up at diner, but isn’t on the menu

Alligator shows up at diner, isn’t invited back

By JOHN MONK

Wade Davis peered over the yellow tape into the pine woods Wednesday, looking for the gator.

“Where there’s one, there’s gotta be more — right?” he said.

Davis, 39, is one of hundreds of people who have dropped by Betty’s Diner on Bluff Road the past few days after hearing reports of a huge alligator behind the popular Bluff Road restaurant.

Betty Mack had a different kind of customer near her small diner on Bluff Rd. last Friday. An eight to ten foot alligator came within 30 yards of the restaurant making quite a stir with staff and customers.

- Tim Dominick/tdominick@thestate.com

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• Gator facts

  Alligator information from the S.C. Department of Natural Resources

  • At least 100,000 alligators are estimated to live in South Carolina, much fewer than the estimated 1.5 million in Florida.

  • The alligator’s natural range in South Carolina is as far north and west as the fall line, an area characterized by rocky shoals in rivers. In the Midlands, that’s in downtown Columbia on the Congaree and Broad rivers and just below the Lake Wateree dam on the Wateree River.

  • Of the nine documented alligator attacks on humans in South Carolina in the past 30 years, more than half were provoked by people.

  • The S.C. Department of Natural Resources established the first alligator hunting season in four decades last year. Hunters who won limited permits in a drawing killed 362 gators. This year’s season runs Sept. 12-Oct. 10.

The alligator — between 10 and 14 feet, estimates went — climbed a hill from a clearing in some woods about 140 yards back from the road. It then crawled over dry, flat terrain to get within about 30 yards of Betty’s Diner. From that vantage point, the gator no doubt could smell the country cooking — burgers, yams and chicken.

“I check under my car when I go out,” said Betty Mack, 59, the diner’s chief cook and restaurant’s namesake who says her specialty is her fast-selling, secret-recipe, nonalcoholic green fruit drink she calls “Jesus.”

The gator hung out all day Friday.

At times, crowds of people surrounded it, taking photographs and videos, poking it with a stick and even touching it.

State officials came out Friday afternoon. Mack and others wonder why they left it where it was, instead of capturing or killing it.

After that, the gator vanished.

Its disappearance only increased the talk.

Restaurant owner Horace Mack, Betty’s son, put up the yellow tape and “No Trespassing” signs to warn people not to go into the woods.

“We have neighborhoods with children all around here. The gator could get to them,” Betty Mack said.

State Department of Natural Resources officials told Betty Mack they couldn’t do anything with the gator since it was not on the Macks’ property or causing danger to anyone.

In fact, said DNR alligator program coordinator Jay Butfiloski, if an alligator is in its own habitat — where this one was — the department rarely intervenes. Intervening means the department would hire an alligator specialist to remove or kill the creature.

It has to be an emergency situation in which life or property is threatened for DNR to do that, Butfiloski said. An alligator on a road as night falls or an alligator at a schoolyard would probably be an emergency, he said.

“Every situation is different and has to be judged on its own.”

In many cases, DNR gives property owners a permit to hire their own alligator removal specialist if the animal comes back on their property and they feel it threatens people.

That’s what DNR did in this case. It also gave the diner a list of about 70 alligator specialists to call for removal if the alligator shows up again.

That didn’t please Betty Mack.

“They were real nice,” she said, “but they didn’t give us the answer we wanted.”

Butfiloski said alligator attacks on people are exceedingly rare in South Carolina. The state’s 100,000 alligators — which reach as far west as Columbia — attack fewer than one person a year, he said.

Fear of alligators is far more common than actual alligator attacks, he said.

Alligators generally try to retreat with people around, he said. But the reptiles can become aggressive if provoked, or if protecting a nest, he said. He advised people to keep a distance.

“It’s like snakes. The more you mess with them, the more they’re likely to bite you.”

Alligators are usually found near water, but at Betty’s Diner, there wasn’t any water nearby. In fact, for several hundred yards in the woods, it was dry land. A large pond, named Alligator Lake, is about 1½ miles to the southwest.

“Alligators sometimes walk between bodies of water. Maybe that’s what this one was doing,” said Butfiloski.

Neighbors also wish DNR had removed the gator.

Less than a half-mile up the road, at the Eastway subdivision where dozens of children live, residents were worried.

“You want to be concerned about the kids,” said Jason Downs, 42. “It was too big to let wander off.”

Betty Mack says she’ll keep looking under her car.

That’s not because she wants to kill and cook it, even though alligator tails are a delicacy with their taste of fishy chicken.

No, it’s because the gator might find her to its liking.

“If he caught me, he’d probably eat me up,” she said.

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Okeechobee man attacked by 11 foot alligator while fishing

Memorial Day wasn’t a good day for Antonio Prado of Okeechobee, who was attacked by an alligator while fishing.

Prado, 47, was net fishing in 2 to 3 feet of water in the Nubbin Slough canal when he was attacked by an 11 foot alligator.  The gator took Prado under water. His son, Jonathon Prado, was with him and threw a pair of plyers at the gator’s head until it released his father. He then pulled his father out of the water.

Prado was taken to Longwood Health Care Center in Fort Pierce with puncture wounds to his chest and arm.  He underwent surgeries but no limbs were lost and he is expected to fully recover.

Immediately after the attack was reported, FWC found the gator in the same area.  He was removed and euthanized. Alligators are most active in the summer months. The FWC urges Floridians and visitors to use caution and to be alert in or around water.

The FWC receives more than 16,000 alligator-related complaints annually and removes about 8,500 alligators each year when the reptiles present potential danger to people or property.

The area where Prado was attacked is 100 feet away from where Kasey Edwards was attacked last June.  Edwards is the teen that swam across the canal last year and lost his arm to a 10 foot gator. 

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Fisherman Spots Gator On Pickens Lake

It made for interesting water cooler conversation Monday morning - an alligator spotted at Herman Baker Park.  KTEN’s Katy Blakey joins us now where the animal is still on the loose.

No sightings so far Monday afternoon, but the animal is out there. A fisherman first spotted it. He didn’t come back with any fish, but he did come back with quite a story.

“I was out there throwing my leer in and pulling it back in,” said Sherman fisherman Damon Stewart. ”I heard something come up behind me but I didn’t think much of it. I threw my leer back out and again and went to roll it back in I turned around. And he lunged at my leg. I jumped out of the way and threw all my tackle down and went out to the point and he went into the water.”

“I heard something creeping up behind me. Didn’t know what it was so I threw my lure out there and reeled it back in. I turned around and when I did he was lunging. I dropped everything and ran out to the point.”

Damon Stewart’s fishing trip quickly ended when he came face-to-face with an alligator. When he got to work Monday, his co-workers didn’t believe him. But animal control backed up his story.  Crews came out to Pickens lake Sunday and they spotted the six-foot-long alligator chomping on a fish. The park was roped off as a precaution.

Police and Stewart don’t think the alligator would attack park visitors, but it could harm a small child. Monday night game wardens will be laying out traps, using chicken fish and maybe marsh mellows to bring the gator to the surface.

Stewart says he will return to the park to fish, but he won’t go into that marshy area again even if they do catch the alligator.

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3 alligators spotted in Lake Wylie 

 

06:36 PM EDT on Wednesday, May 13, 2009

 

By ALEX REED / NewsChannel 36 

ROCK HILL, S.C. — Not one, but three alligators are living in Lake Wylie, not far from where children swim.

The boat ramp at the Elks Park Campground near Rock Hill is filled with people daily now who are looking for the gators. It’s a popular swimming area for children here. That’s what has people worried.

It’s tough to see, but NewsChannel 36 caught video of the head of a 2- to 3-year-old alligator swimming around Lake Wylie.

“They’re coming too close with our little children out here,” said Julie Orr.

She’s visited the campground for years. She says her first alligator sighting in Lake Wylie was years ago.

Also Online

 Related Story:
•  Alligator spotted in Lake Hickory

But this is a first for Jon Meadows. He says this is “exciting because you never see them out here.”

There are pictures of one of gators, which a local camper caught on his fishing pole. They show the gator’s head to be about the size of a soda can. Copies of the pictures are passed around the campground as everyone wants a look.

It’s a frightening sight for Orr, who says, “We have young children that swim out here.”

She says she called the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources for help.

“I would think they would send somebody out here to get them, but they say no, they’re not a danger to us,” Orr said.

The wildlife biologist told NewsChannel 36 alligators aren’t considered a threat to people until they reach at least 6 feet in length.

But even these small 3-feet-long gators are enough to drive many away from their usual swimming hole.

“I’m not swimming out here anymore. I’m not touching that water anymore. I’m staying out here. I’m being safe,” said Meadows.

The DNR biologist explained that baby alligators like these are outside their natural habitat and were most likely dumped by a pet owner who kept them illegally. He said the reptiles will feed on animals the size of frogs for the next few years.

Orr says the alligators seem to like baby geese.

“We had plenty of them and they’re just gone,” she said.

The biologist said that an alligator attack on adults, children or pets is highly unlikely. That’s why the officers probably won’t remove them. He says it is illegal for anyone to catch or kill the reptiles without a permit.

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This gator is out of its normal range.

Alligator spotted again in Lake Hickory

A resident at Lake Hickory snapped these photos of a 4-feet-long alligator. (Photo by Len Mendat / via WCNC)

GRANITE FALLS, N.C. — It’s green, has four legs, as many as 80 teeth and now calls Lake Hickory home. An alligator measuring about 4-feet long was photographed at the lake by a neighbor.

“It was right next to my backyard,” said Len Mendat, who rushed inside his house to get a camera.

The gator climbed up a log, floating along what locals call Gun Powder Cove.

“It scared me,” said neighbor Barbara Benfer. “I thought, ‘Oh my goodness. Our cove has been taken over by this big alligator.’”

Other neighbors photographed a smaller gator last year at the lake. These reptiles do not belong in this part of the Carolinas.

“People get these things as pets,” said Brad Howard, a biologist with the North Carolina Wildlife Commission. “They think they’re cool. They get them when they are about 12-inches long and then they get bigger and they dump them.”

Howard couldn’t say for sure that the latest gator citing in Lake Hickory is not the same gator from last year.

“But it’s pretty unlikely,” he said. “The big question is, if it’s the same gator from last year, where has it been for the last 10 months?”

The wildlife commission refuses to capture gators, saying they don’t pose an immediate threat.

“Almost all of the alligator attacks in their native range occur when people have been feeding an alligator and they associate that area with someone throwing them some food,” said Howard.

Wildlife officers say that relocating the reptile could spread disease to other animals.

We asked Howard if he would allow his children to jump into the water knowing there’s an alligator in the lake.

“Oh, yeah,” he responded. “Certainly people swim in Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Louisiana, all those states and those are big alligators down there.”

That’s not what neighbors around Lake Hickory wanted to hear.

“I would love to see it removed,” said Benfer. “(I) don’t even feel comfortable sitting on my own dock anymore, dangling my feet in the water.”

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As if the flooding alone wasn’t bad enough.

Brazilians flee flooding, stay in cow pens

By MARCO SIBAJA 
Associated Press Writer

Published: Friday, May. 8, 2009 – 8:14 am 
Last Modified: Friday, May. 8, 2009 – 6:35 pm

BACABAL, Brazil – Brazilians huddled in cow pens converted into emergency shelters Friday, as swollen rivers continue to rise and northern Brazil’s worst floods in decades boosted the number of homeless to nearly 300,000. The death toll rose to 39, and coffins started popping out of the soaked earth.

More than 1,000 people forced from their homes were crammed into a sprawling complex of stables and wooden shacks that hosts the annual August cattle fair in this city of 95,000 surrounded by small farms and jungle.

Up to six people were staying in each pen, sleeping in hammocks, mattresses and on the floor. They cooked government handouts of rice and beans over open wood fires, many with the TVs they toted with them stacked among their belongings.

Others stayed in shacks normally used to sell trinkets and cattle products during the annual fair. The pigs, chickens and dogs they brought with them roamed a concrete courtyard where children kicked around balls.

Local health officials acknowledged sanitary conditions were deplorable and could lead to outbreaks of disease, but those staying in the stables said they worried conditions could be worse elsewhere if they are forced to go.

Luz Gomes said a cow pen felt like a safe temporary home for her three children, with her neighbors living in the stall next door after all were evacuated by flatbed truck as floodwaters swept through their poor neighborhood of wooden shacks and mud-brick houses.

“We’ve gotten used to being here, I’ve got my family by my side, we know this place and we don’t know what we’d find in another shelter,” said Gomes, while cradling her baby son.

None thought about returning home anytime soon as unusually heavy rains continued Friday, extending two months of rainfall across 10 of Brazil’s 26 states. Three times the size of Alaska, the affected area stretches from the normally wet rainforest to coastal states known for lengthy droughts.

In Belterra, about 1,100 kilometers (680 miles) from Bacabal, the rains washed earth from a cemetery, dislodging four coffins that later washed up on riverbanks and sending an unknown number floating down the Tapajos River that feeds into the Amazon.

“The current was so strong that it dragged them away,” said city official Edicley Dias.

Meteorologists blame the heavy rain on an Atlantic Ocean weather system that typically moves on by April – and they forecast weeks more of the same. And fleeing presented its own perils: In the same newly formed rivers that flood victims waded through or plied with canoes there swam anacondas, rattlesnakes and legless, rodent-eating “worm lizards,” whose bite is excruciating.

Alligators also were seen swimming through many flooded cities and towns, and scorpions congregated on the same high ground as people escaping the rising water. No injuries to people from wild animals were reported.

Rivers still were rising in the hardest-hit state of Maranhao, where Bacabal is located. The surging torrents wrecked bridges and made it too dangerous for relief workers to take boats onto some waterways. Mudslides were stranding trucks, preventing them from delivering food and supplies to places cut off from civilization.

“They are stuck and waiting until we can clear the roads, which for some highways could be in a week if alternative routes aren’t found,” said Abner Ferreira, civil defense spokesman for Maranhao.

Brazil’s Vale, the world’s largest producer of iron ore, warned that it may not be able to meet obligations to buyers of the raw ingredient for steel because the floods have prevented shipments from being sent by rail from a huge Amazon mine to an Atlantic Ocean port for export.

Repairing and reopening the 560-mile (900-kilometer) railway closed since Monday depends on weather conditions, Companhia Vale do Rio Doce SA said in a statement. If the rains don’t ease up, Vale said it could declare force majeure – is a clause in contracts that can free parties from liability or obligation when an extraordinary event beyond their control occurs.

Cleide Soede dos Santos, camped out at the fairgrounds, said her devastated neighborhood would probably take months to rebuild once waters recede.

“Our houses are falling down, and on my street there are houses that were completely destroyed because the river’s flow was so strong,” she said.

Ferreira said authorities were trying to improve conditions: “We are doing the best we can to find sanitary shelters so that people can live in adequate places.”

The flooding in northern Brazil is the worst in 20 years, and experts have warned river levels including the Amazon could hit records not seen since 1953 by June.

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People or Sheeple?

by  Ted Nugent 

The cute chimp attacks the owner’s best friend and eats her face and hands off. The primate’s owner calls 911 and cries for help that, as always, comes much too late. 
 
A nine year old little girl takes the 160 pound bull mastiff for a walk and loses control. The giant dog clamps down on her head and all people can do is scream and yell.
 
Another nine year old little girl steps off the school bus in rural Michigan and is instantly attacked by a pack of feral dogs, all wearing collars. Again, all anybody can do is scream as the helpless girl’s face and head is ripped to shreds.

The elderly lady leisurely strolls along the causeway like she does every evening, when out from the canal lunges a prehistoric monster, its rows of teeth clamping down on her torso, nearly cutting her in half. The 12 foot alligator drags the gasping senior citizen into the shallow water and devours her.
 
The insane lady lifts herself over the barrier so she can pet the 1000 pound polar bear, but instead is clawed into the jaws of the carnivore as all the zoo goers wail pathetically to no avail.
 
A young athletic gal enters her apartment building in San Francisco after her daily jog and is met by a pair of snarling Doberman pincers that savagely attack and kill her.
 
The Michigan farmer enters the breeding pen of his whitetail deer and is gored and nearly killed by the dominant buck. His cries for help are heard by no one.
 
Two punks taunt the regal Indian tiger in its cage at the San Francisco zoo. The giant killer cat leaps up and over its moat and easily catches and kills one punk and severely injures the other. No one hears their cries (and in this case, that’s just as well.  I’m on the tiger’s side).
 
The animal control officer responds to an emergency call about a pit bull attacking neighbors, but she arrives with only a flimsy net and the powerful dog nearly kills her.
 
A bobcat crashes through a window at a local tavern and begins chasing patrons, clawing and biting people at will. Everybody scurries about helplessly and cannot stop the rabid kill crazy cat.
 
The bicycler pedals through a curve on the bike path near San Diego when a hungry mountain lion catapults onto him, biting his neck, and dragging him off into the brush. Other cyclists scream and holler but the cougar ignores them and kills its victim.
 
A young boy zips up his sleeping bag in the Canadian park for a night of camping, but is savagely attacked by a large black bear. The boy’s family yells and throws pots and pans at the bear who is dragging the helpless boy off into the wilderness, where it kills and eats him.
 
The stoned hippie spends years in the Alaskan wilderness, and in a drug induced stupor, he pretends to befriend grizzly bears and give them names. He and his girlfriend are killed and eaten by his new friends.
 
A family is picnicking in Northern California when a mountain lion stalks their picnic table and grabs the mother by the throat and drags her off into the forest. All anybody can do is scream and yell and cry.
 
I could go on, but I just thought I would mention that carrying a gun might be a good idea. Nah.  Some people are sheeple. 

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Keep your eyes peeled for alligators

 Contributed by UF Newsies - Posted: April 29, 2009 12:00:00 AM

 

By Bridget Higginbotham, Newsies Contributing Writer

Coming back from a bike ride near his parents’ Haile Plantation home last August, Scott Gulig turned the corner and there it was.

A 4-foot alligator was sunning itself in the middle of the path.

The freshman biology major slammed on his brakes. He fell off his red mountain bike, about 15 feet away from the reptile. 

“It was big,” he said. “I was pretty sure it could take me down.” 

Scared, Gulig was shaking. In the 18 years he had lived with his parents, he had never seen an alligator in the retention pond. 

But the alligator didn’t move.

When Gulig realized it had barely noticed his presence, he began to calm down.

Collecting himself, Gulig went home another way.

“I don’t think it saw me,” he said. “I think that was funny.”

Such unexpected alligator sightings are likely to increase as the weather warms up.

And because April and May are mating season, alligators are more active now as they look for partners. 

But this does not mean that alligators are more dangerous than they are any other time of the year, according to Lindsey Hord, a biologist and coordinator of the Statewide Alligator Nuisance Program for Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

Hord says that mature alligators, or those more than 6-feet long, make themselves more visible as they try to look for mates.

Both males and females move around and make mating calls. 

Mating season coincides with the end of the winter dormant season. so alligators are also feeding and enjoying the warmer weather. Low water levels also contribute to greater visibility.

While the statewide nuisance alligator program receives more calls this time of year, it does not mean the threat of an alligator attack is greater, Hord said. 

The commission’s Web site reports that serious bites are increasing at a rate of 3 percent each year, equaling about one additional bite every four to five years. 

Hord attributes this rise to the increase in the human population, not an increase in alligator aggression.

“There is no greater danger than a decade ago,” he said. 

When Hord hears of parents who are worried to send their children out on lakes in boats or rafts because of alligators, he tells them that the alligators shouldn’t be the first concern.

An average of 465 people drown in the state of Florida every year, according to the Florida Department of Health Office of Injury Prevention. On the other hand, the commission reports 22 total deaths in the state have been caused by alligators since 1973.

“When you stack those two up against each other, people need to worry more about drowning than alligators,” Hord said.

When freshmen English major Shae McDaniel went kayaking with her friends on Lake Wauberg two weekends ago, she was not initially worried about either.

Wearing life vests, McDaniel and roommate Katie Latham paddled their yellow kayak towards a bank in order to get a better view of three alligators sunning themselves in the good weather. 

From a distance, they saw the head of an alligator in the middle of the lake. 

So they paddled towards him.

Stopping several yards away, McDaniel felt they had given the alligator enough space.

But the reptile lowered its head below the surface.

McDaniel and Latham sat tense in their kayak, not able to see anything through the murky water. 

Only the day before, McDaniel’s Spanish professor had been talking to the class about “Lake Placid,” a film about a man-eating crocodile terrorizing a lake in Maine. 

“It wouldn’t have been so traumatic if he hadn’t said that,” McDaniel said.

The theme from “Jaws” played in her head, “There’s an alligator under us somewhere and I don’t know where he is.”

Suddenly, less than a foot away, the alligator popped up. He snapped his jaws and disappeared. 

The girls screamed and paddled away to rejoin their friends in another part of the water.

While she had no desire to repeat the encounter, McDaniel still returned to the lake the next weekend with different friends. 

They teased about not wanting to go with her after the incident, but in the grey weather, they saw no alligators. 

Hord says that if boaters or swimmers do find themselves in the water with an alligator, they should make themselves look as big as possible. 

Splashing, screaming and waving their arms above their head all can intimidate the alligator. 

Opportunistic feeders, alligators look for easy prey so big, noisy swimmers might not be an easy snack. 

However, since alligators can become so fixated on food, it could continue to approach. 

Hord suggests going under water and, if attacked, to keep putting up a struggle.

“Fight as hard as you possibly can,” Hord said. “Many people who fight survive.”

Most of the time, alligators do not want to eat people. 

When they only see a human head above the surface, Hord and other scientists believe the alligators mistake people for smaller animals like opossums. 

Or when humans are in lakes with pets, which resemble the reptiles’ natural prey, an alligator may approach with the intent to snatch the pet but grabs the first thing it reaches.

If residents find an alligator in an unnatural habitat or feel threatened by its presence, they can call the Nuisance Alligator Hotline at 1-866-FWC-GATOR. 

For a brochure on living with alligators, visit http://www.myfwc.com.

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Feeding ‘Gators Illegal, Dangerous

CAROLYN RICKARD
PUBLIC INFORMATION OFFICER
NC WILDLIFE RESOURCES
Published: April 28, 2009

RALEIGH, N.C. (April 28) – The N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission is reminding residents and visitors that feeding alligators is not only dangerous, but also illegal.

As the weather warms, Wildlife officials receive more reports of people seeing – and feeding – alligators. The American Alligator is listed as threatened by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and, under North Carolina law, it is illegal to feed them in the wild.

In addition, feeding these animals can cause them to lose their fear of people, making them more likely to approach and possibly attack. 

For more information on the American Alligator, visit the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s fact sheet. For information on threatened and endangered species in North Carolina, visit http://www.ncwildlife.org.

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Success and Survival Tips From An Alligator Wrestler

Posted by: lance in Dog Swimming Pool

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In the film ‘The Waterboy’, a teacher asked: “Why are alligators so aggressive?”

The waterboy replied: “Momma tells me alligators are ornery because they have all those teeth but no toothbrush!”

Nigel Marven, the wild life expert, was not content with what his mother told him about alligators. He spent a year in Southern Florida in 2002 studying their ways and making films about them.

A collection of his experiences on film are called ‘Nigel Marven’s Alligator Adventure’. Nigel, back in England, had noticed an advertisement which read:

“Wanted! Alligator Wrestler. Must Be Brave and a Risk Taker!!! No Experience Needed.”

The ad described Nigel exactly. Alligator wrestlers were needed because Southern Florida was in its second year of drought. Nigel commented:

“One and a half million alligators are getting desperate and have started coming into town in search of water causing big problems. That’s where my special mission will come in – dealing with nuisance alligators.”

Nigel realized that some kind of training would help him to survive and to succeed in his job. He chose to train with an experienced alligator wrestler, a Miccosukee Indian, called Kenny.

The Miccosukee have lived and hunted alligators in this area for centuries.

An alligator’s jaws have a crushing power of 3000lbs per square inch. Their teeth are not as sharp as crocodiles so they do not chew their prey. They thrash their victims around till body parts are ripped off and can be swallowed whole.

Another difference is that crocodile snouts are narrow and pointed whereas alligator snouts are broad and round.

Kenny waved his hat in front of the eyes of a ten foot alligator to get it to open its mouth. He tapped above its snout several times with his hand

He then put his hand close to its mouth. When it snapped its jaws shut and then opened them, he moved in fast and closed its jaws with his left palm underneath and his right palm on top. He finally gripped its jaws with his thumbs on top and his fingers underneath.

He moved closer bending the alligator’s neck back with his left knee. He then moved anticlockwise round the left side of the alligator stepping first with his right leg, holding its jaws shut with his left hand alone until he could sit on its back pulling its head back with both hands. Again his thumbs were on top and his fingers underneath.

It was Nigel’s turn next. He had a go at a five foot alligator. What it lacked in size, it would make up for in speed. He approached it from the rear. It took him a while to get his courage up for his first move.

He then moved in fast squatting on its back just behind its front legs and covering its eyes with his left hand which also slammed its head towards the ground. This closed its mouth so Nigel could grab its jaws with his thumbs on top of its upper jaw and his fingers underneath the lower jaw.

To tie up its jaws he would have to bend its neck back until the alligator’s closed snout could be held in a clamped position under his own chin! The alligator did not enjoy this experience:

“I can hear that hissing. It’s going all through my body.”

He got off by putting its head down and then moving quickly away from its jaws.

Nigel decided he had learned enough grappling techniques and headed off to see the creatures in the wild. He was, after all, a wild life scientist as well as an alligator wrestler!

That evening he travelled to a small pool packed with alligators. He could see orange red eyes and feel the tension in the air. It would have been suicide to try and swim in this pool so he punted his way in.

One alligator came right up alongside his boat:

“They are curious about anything new and it is clear they are really hungry. 
This is magical. You can see them gliding through the water. Some are hunting.

“They’ve eaten all the turtles and the fish and all there is left is each other. The smaller alligators try to keep out of the way of the bigger ones by sticking to the shallows but sometimes there is no escape.”

One huge alligator attacked an adolescent alligator:

“It is shaking it like a dog shaking a rat. They can’t chew. They can only grip so they thrash and crash until they dismember the bodies of large prey.”

Later in daylight, Nigel moved close in the shallows to a large alligator and started tapping it on top of its nostrils until it opened its mouth wide. It clearly enjoyed having its snout rubbed.

Nigel put one hand in its mouth to point out the stubs of teeth that the alligator grips with. He was at the same time talking to and looking at the camera!

He then put his head in its mouth to give viewers a closer look at the throat! A camera was attached to his forehead. An alligator has no lips to seal its mouth from water so it has a false palate which seals its throat instead.

Nigel was determined to show a close up of this amazing design feature. He moved his head further and further in. Suddenly, the alligator lost patience and snapped its jaws twice.

Nigel narrowly escaped without losing his head or his arm not to mention the camera!

“Wow! Wow! I had to be fast there, didn’t I really? Pheaw! That nearly spoiled my weekend!”

Alligators cannot survive for long outside water so, in times of drought, they create their own ponds or ’swimming pools’. They push mud back with their front legs and then sweep it away with their back legs and tails. These pools help other species to survive as well.

Nigel decided to explore a pool ‘owned’ by a large female alligator. He entered the pool while the alligator was recharging her energies at the side of the pool in the sun. He estimated this would take about half an hour.

He managed to unearth a salamander and an aggressively vicious snapping turtle that was only too keen to attack both him and the cameraman! Its jaws are designed for cutting and not grinding. A bite could snip off a finger or thumb.

Throughout the program, Nigel was full of enthusiasm. He was delighted to discover some of the most horrendous looking creatures that most people would pay good money to avoid.

He only just escaped the pool before the ‘owner’ reached him.

His next ‘adventure’ was to swim with huge bull alligators and female alligators during their mating rituals. He was told by an expert to keep at least twenty feet away from the bulls, to keep low in the water and to splash water towards an alligator if it moved towards him.

He ignored some of this advice and got within six feet of a huge bull alligator. The bulls lift their heads and tails high out of the water and bellow as part of the courting ritual.

They vibrate so much with the sound of the bellow and a deeper sound below the level of human hearing, that the water ‘dances’ in the air above their backs.

Female alligators bellow too but at a higher more ladylike pitch. The water does not dance on their backs.

Nigel entered the water, as planned, to get closer to the sounds and sights of this magical scene.

He was so absorbed in watching the amazing mating ritual of one bull that he failed to notice an alligator stalking him. Fortunately, he turned and saw it in time. The water was shallow and this helped him get out unscathed.

During mating the female is submerged underneath and if the pair gets carried away she may even drown. Normally, however, her eggs are fertilized and she lays them within two or three weeks and then after two or three months the little alligators emerge.

Nigel next swam with some manatees. These peaceful mammals can be fifteen feet long and weigh 3000 pounds – as much as a car or a rhinoceros.

They eat a hundred pounds of green stuff a day and have 150 foot long intestines to process all the plants they eat. Water hyacinths are their main diet in Florida.

They are so large that they do not need to fear the alligators. They usually come up to breathe every four minutes or so but can stay submerged for over sixteen minutes.

At one point an American crocodile joined the swimming party. There are only about 500 American crocodiles left – all in Florida. Nigel’s reaction was typical:

“For me swimming with one is a privilege indeed.”

In the next ‘adventure’, Nigel drew away an eight foot mother alligator from her hatching eggs so that he could get close enough to do some research. He was thrilled to hear the babies chirping as they hatched.

As he came close, she turned and snapped at him with stunning speed. But he backed off with equal speed. Maybe she was just snapping her jaws together to frighten him away. She snapped again.

He encouraged her to come towards him once more and tripped over some tree roots on his left. Luckily, he kept on his feet and survived yet again!

“Cor! That snap really got my heart beating. If they run at you they can run at twelve miles an hour. I should be able to out run her. Wow! Come on, Mum! Wow!” Each time Nigel said ‘Wow!’ the alligator came at him.

Eventually, Nigel lay close and low on the ground watching entranced as she helped the baby alligators to hatch by rolling the eggs around in her mouth:

“Astounding animal behaviour – this is what I live for. This gets the blood coursing through my veins. The baby alligators walk towards their mum. They know that she’s the best way to get to the water.”

When she went off to take one of two of her babies to the water, he examined the others to see what sex they were. Their sex is determined by the temperature they are incubated at:

“This is ridiculous! These are reptiles but I feel like a proud father. This is the first day of these little hatchling lives. They could live to fifty.”

Nigel also found some baby turtles in the alligator nest. He carried these to the water in his hands.

Alligator hatchlings stay together as a family for two or three years but only a few will make it to adulthood.

From day one they catch food for themselves but they are also hunted by predators like otters. The Mother alligator can’t be everywhere at once especially when she has about forty baby alligators to protect.

There is one alligator for every ten people in Florida. They can be tempted by different kinds of food like dogs. They take about a hundred a year but it is not just pets that are in jeopardy. Alligators can turn up anywhere. Fortunately attacks on humans are extremely rare.

Nigel met fourteen year old Edna Wilkes and her friend Amanda. They were swimming at night in a lake when Edna was attacked by an alligator. She had never seen alligators in that lake before and wasn’t scared about swimming there.

She thought her friend Mark was squeezing her arm and said: “Mark! Stop playing around!” Then she saw a snout. Her arm was in the alligator’s jaws.

She was pulled underwater before she had a chance to scream and the alligator started to spin. Alligators drown their prey and spin to tear off chunks of flesh.

Her friend could not ‘bear to see her die’ and handed her a board that Edna got her upper body onto. Edna used her free right arm to try to open the alligator’s mouth and to ‘mess’ with him:

“I guess I irritated him and he let me go!”

Edna kept her left arm although it had multiple fractures.

Now it was time for Nigel to put his skills and knowledge to the test.

A nuisance alligator had been spotted in a swimming pool. It was large and on the bottom of the pool. Nigel would have to swim underwater to capture it with his bare hands.

He was, not surprisingly, nervous. He asked for advice from Joe, an expert friend.

Joe advised: “Be slow, careful and deliberate. Cover the eyes and make sure the mouth is closed before grabbing its snout. If necessary, push its head to the bottom of the pool to close its mouth.”

Nigel’s swam up behind the alligator along its back His first attempt to grab its closed snout failed and he came up gasping for air. On the second attempt:

“His jaws just missed me!”

Third time lucky – he swam above the alligator and grabbed the snout with the jaws closed with his left hand. He brought the alligator in near the steps into the pool. His friend Joe helped him tape the mouth shut and then lift it out of the pool

As usual, Nigel saw the positives of this terrifying experience:

“This bloke gave me a beautiful ride in the swimming pool.”

Florida laws said that a nuisance alligator over four feet long should be killed but Nigel made sure that this one was released into an Everglades sanctuary where it could live on for many years to come. He commented:

“I just hope that the people in Florida never lose patience with their prehistoric neighbours. I have enjoyed my alligator adventure so much.”

My step brother emailed me this poem which shows that alligators are not necessarily the guilty party when it comes to attacks on human beings! It is called ‘The Purist’ by Ogden Nash:

I give you now Professor Twist,

A conscientious scientist,

Trustees exclaimed, “He never bungles!”

And sent him off to distant jungles.

Camped on a tropic riverside,

One day he missed his loving bride.

She had, the guide informed him later,

Been eaten by an alligator.

Professor Twist could not but smile.

“You mean,” he said, “a crocodile.”

Several success and survival tips can be learned from Nigel’s ‘adventures’.

Get training from the best in the business. Nigel sought advice from at least three experts. He also applied their advice although not all of it.

Maintain your enthusiasm for what you are doing even if you make mistakes. Churchill defined success as going from one failure to another without losing your enthusiasm. Nigel did not give up in the swimming pool.

Follow your passions. Nigel had bathed at home in his bath with young caymans from an early age. He later swam with alligators. He loved finding out about animals and reptiles.

Keep your childhood curiosity and sense of wonder so that you can enjoy your experiences on this amazing planet.

Chrissy Ogden wrote: ‘Keeping in touch with childhood memories keeps us believing in life’s simplest pleasures like a rainy afternoon, a swing set, and a giant puddle to play in.’ All through the film Nigel was playing in giant puddles.

Knowledge and fascination can lessen fear and panic. Nigel’s mind was so filled with his curiosity about the creatures he met up with that it did not have room for too much fear. Keep learning new things and your life will be less anxious and less fearful.

Don’t give up even if you feel your life is in the grip of an ‘alligator’ like debt or illness.

Be willing to take risks although I would not advise taking Nigel as your role model. I just checked on the internet to see if he is still alive. He is!

Link

I would be pretty terrified to see an 8 foot long rattlesnake. I can’t really even fathom what that would look like. Think of the striking range that snake would have!

A diamondback in the rough

At last, a naturalist finds his Holy Grail: A rare rattler in remote Florida park

The eastern diamondback rattler struggles to stay alive as a species, no thanks to humans.John Serrao

April 26, 2009 6:00 AM

I don’t know what it was that suddenly brought my eyes to ground level after an hour of scanning the branches of the pines and oaks for birds along a remote trail in Florida’s vast Appalachicola National Forest. Was it the sunlight reflected off the glossy, yellowish skin? Or the wide, heavy shape stretched straight out among the thin, curving fallen branches that littered the ground? Or — most likely — the regular pattern of big, dark diamonds that extended four feet in a straight line just a few feet from my and my wife, Felicia’s, feet.

Even though I’d never seen one before, I immediately knew what the animal was, and after a glance of just a fraction of a second, I repeated three or four times in an excited but hushed voice to Felicia: “Diamondback rattlesnake!”

The eastern diamondback rattlesnake has been my “Holy Grail” — the number one item on my “bucket list” — for more than 30 years. Quite simply, it’s the biggest, most dangerous snake in the United States. A handful of snakes, including the indigo snake and our own black rat snake, may slightly exceed the diamondback’s maximum recorded length of eight feet, but none can match its sheer bulk and weight, nor the immense size of its head. I’ve seen timber rattlesnakes in the Poconos that measure 4½ feet long and 8 inches in circumference, and I can’t possible imagine an eastern diamondback rattlesnake almost twice that size.

What an impressive creature to encounter in the pine forests of Florida, Georgia or the Carolinas! But, despite countless visits to the wilderness areas of these southern states over the past three decades, including places highly recommended by other naturalists, foresters and park rangers, I’ve never seen one — until March 24, 2009, a date I’ll never forget.

After my initial shock at the sight of such a big snake just a few feet off the trail, I quickly assessed the situation. It appeared very calm and remained completely motionless, stretched out lengthwise in the sunlight. Its beautiful, yellowish-tan skin was shiny and almost iridescent, indicating that it had very recently shed it skin.

The conditions for photographing it could not have been better, and, since no people were in the forest except for Felicia and me, I could take my time and just enjoy this amazing, once-in-a-lifetime (I hope not) experience. I photographed it from every angle for at least 15 minutes, and it remained motionless.

Then, before we moved on, in order to prevent it from being detected by anyone who might harm it, I gently tapped it with a branch. This caused the rattlesnake to slowly withdraw beneath the cover of a shrub, where it coiled up to face me and began to rattle, warning me not to come any closer. It seemed both fearless and non-aggressive at the same time — an animal completely secure with its own status at the top of the food chain, with no natural enemies except humans.

Unfortunately, humans have taken a terrible toll over the years on populations of eastern diamondback rattlesnakes, just as they have with timber rattlesnakes in the northeastern states and various species of western rattlesnakes. Unbelievably, unlike our own timber rattler, the eastern diamondback enjoys no laws to protect it — no restrictions against killing, collecting, habitat destruction or the insanity of “rattlesnake roundups,” a community snake-hunting tradition started long ago by ranchers who thought rattlesnake populations were too high.

Dr. Bruce Means, the expert on this species, conducts research in the Florida Panhandle and has written extensively on its biology and population declines. I read his excellent book, “Stalking the Plumed Serpent” (Pineapple Press, Sarasota, 2008), this past winter and became even more obsessed with finally seeing an eastern diamondback in the wild after vicariously experiencing his adventures with this magnificent reptile (the first chapter, which relates a nearly fatal bite and his struggle to crawl back to civilization, is sure to raise the hairs on the back of anyone’s neck). However, Dr. Means, in a letter written to me in February, sadly informed me that the eastern diamondback rattlesnake now survives in good numbers only on a few isolated, remote barrier islands and within vast, protected wildernesses like the 500,000-acre Appalachicola National Forest.

During our 10 days in Florida, we saw 125 species of birds and almost 40 reptiles and amphibians. We saw the dusky pygmy rattlesnake; the beautiful and rare Gulf Hammock rat snake; the unusual, legless eastern glass lizard; and hundreds of butterflies of a dozen species flitting from flower to flower along the long, sandy trails. Alligators were common, including a mother with seven babies. And a big water moccasin coiled up, opened its mouth widely, and displayed its sharp, venomous fangs and famous “cottonmouth” while I photographed it.

I’m sure that all of these sightings will remain in my memory over the years, but none will be more treasured, vivid and indelible than my first experience with America’s most impressive snake, the eastern diamondback.

Let’s hope that, before it’s too late, laws will be passed to protect this relatively inoffensive reptile so that it can continue to give nature lovers unforgettable experiences in the southern pine forests of which it is such a magnificent part of the natural heritage.

Since the App Store gives developers no ability to respond to user reviews, we’re going to do it here, occasionally. Mostly for our own sanity, since sometimes the things people say need to be debated a little!

Our Response:

Risk of either mosquito and crocodile attacks ARE low in the everglades. In the case of the mosquito, the LETHAL app is warning you about the possibility of an attack that would pose danger to a person. LETHAL is concerned more with deadly diseases, not just general itchiness. Disease bearing mosquitoes are actually rare in Florida, while not so rare in other parts of the world.

I think the user confused alligators and crocodiles. There are many alligators in the Everglades, and the risk of a gator attack is indeed heightened. However,  there is also a very small population of crocodiles in the Everglades. In fact, it’s the only place in the world where both crocs and gators co-exist.

But there is absolutely no documented record of an attack on a human by a crocodile there. (Or anywhere in the United States, for that matter.) American Crocs actually have a reputation of being less aggressive than crocs elsewhere in the world (though there have been attacks in Central and South America, where they are more prevalent.)

So for both mosquito and croc, putting the level of attack risk at “Low” is correct.

Thanks for saying we’re fun, but do understand that we strive to be educational too! We really really do!

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7-Foot Gator Loose In Orleans Parish Park

Nuisance Hunter Captures 2 Of 3 Gators Reported At Brechtel Park

POSTED: 6:15 pm CDT April 23, 2009
UPDATED: 6:54 pm CDT April 23, 2009

NEW ORLEANS, La. – Park workers on Thursday tried to oust an unwelcome visitor inside a popular Algiers park.

 

A 7-foot alligator was still on the loose in Brechtel Park as of Thursday evening. 

“It’s very much a common problem,” said park attendee Perrier Sanchez. “They’ve got alligators at Audubon Park, City Park, Brechtel Park.” 

At Brechtel Park, three large alligators recently tried turning a lagoon into their summer home. 

“The park spotted them and was concerned for safety, so they asked us to try and get rid of them,” said Shane Granier, of Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries. 

Lt. Edward Skena with Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries said agents were first notified about the problem in February and hired a nuisance hunter to capture the trespassers. But so far, the hunter has only caught two. 

“The two he caught were between 6 and 7 feet, and he has been unable to locate the third,” Skena said. “It’s between 7 and 8 feet, and he’s still trying to catch it.” 

Skena said that’s just two of about 20 gators they’ve captured this year in Orleans Parish, but park-like settings make the job much more difficult. 

Wildlife and Fisheries employees said they have to catch the alligator by hand. They’re unable to set traps because they want to protect other wildlife and small children. 

“You can’t leave those things unattended, those lines,” Skena said. “There’s a large, sharp hook, and you don’t want children to come in contact with that.” 

Instead, the hunter will fish for the gator. But Skena said, until the gator is captured, guests should use common sense. Don’t feed the alligator and keep children and small pets away from the water’s edge. 

“Basically, if you don’t bother them, they won’t bother you — that’s the way I see it,” Sanchez said. 

Wildlife and Fisheries agents said they will continue to receive gator sightings as the temperatures rise, but they have had no reports of gator attacks in Orleans Parish.

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Crazy. Ohio!! It lunged at him. And 4 feet long is not a small gator.

Teen catches what appears to be alligator in Summit LakeBy Linda Golz
Beacon Journal staff writer

POSTED: 07:16 p.m. EDT, Apr 21, 2009

 

14-year-old Anthony Greer sits on a stairway at his home Tuesday next to what he thinks is an alligator that he caught while fishing at Summit Lake last Sunday in Akron. The reptile, which is tagged, was alive when he caught it. (Ed Suba Jr./Akron Beacon Journal)

View more photos>>

Anthony Greer has a fish tale of a lifetime.

The Akron teen had planned a leisurely day of fishing at Summit Lake on Sunday in hopes of luring a few bass.

Instead, at 9 a.m. the 14-year-old caught what authorities believe is an alligator.

Anthony said the gator rose from the water and then lunged at him.

The Innes Middle School eighth-grader admitted it scared him at first. ”His mouth opened up. He would have bit me,” Anthony said. ”I had to hit him [on the head] with a brick.”

Anthony said he carried the dead gator the four to five blocks from the lake to his Leroy Street home by his tail.

”Everybody was stopping me” along the way, he said.

Anthony’s 18-year-old brother, Reggie Scott, measured the gator at 4 feet, 2 inches long.

”We noticed it was tagged,” Scott said. The silver colored band on its right back foot reads ”483.”

Akron Zoo’s Manager of Living Collections, Pete Mohan, examined photos of the gator.

”I’m pretty sure, based on the picture,” it is an alligator and not a caiman. He estimated that the alligator appears to be about 4 years old.

”My suspicion is that this was a poached animal, or stolen,” Mohan said. Otherwise it wouldn’t have had the tag on, he said.

”It’s possible it could have come from an alligator farm or a pet store,” he added.

Alligators are prohibited under Akron’s exotic animal ordinance, unless the owner has a permit from the director of health. A violation is a first-degree misdemeanor, punishable by six months in jail.

This is the second alligator found in Summit Lake in two years. Sandy the Alligator, caught by a teenager in July 2007, was adopted by an animal rescue group.

”I want to get this thing stuffed,” Anthony said. ”I didn’t plan on catching an alligator.”

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Summer is fast approaching and with the warm weather arriving, so are alligators! When the temperature rises, so does the likelihood of seeing an alligator in an area near people, such as lakes and apartment complexes. Although they may be fun to gaze at from a distance, feeding them is a dangerously different story.

Feeding alligators can cause them to relate humans as food. When alligators are fed by humans they lose their fear of them, which can lead them to possibly attack. They become accustomed to people giving them food, causing them to believe that every human has food.

Hap Fatzinger, NC Aquarium at Fort Fisher’s Curator says “Don’t do it, it’s against the law. Problems arise when animals, such as alligators become conditioned or associate humans with food.”

One way to safely view alligators is to visit the NC Aquarium at Fort Fisher. Husbandry and design teams are working to complete the next portion of the newest exhibit featuring our rare albino alligator. They have recently started working on the observation deck where visitors will be able to safely view the pure white beauty up close.

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This happened in January, but it’s a fascinating story. The alligator grabbed a worker’s hand and pulled him under water!

Man bitten by gator wrapped mangled hand, kept on working

BY ANDREW MARRA Palm Beach Post
Wednesday, January 28, 2009

LAKE WORTH — A contractor picking up litter at John Prince Park fought off an alligator who pulled him into the water by his hand today – then continued working after bandaging his own mangled limb.

A neighbor wandering onto the island where the man was working this afternoon said she paused to ask him a question, and that’s when he stopped his trash collecting duties, raised his bloodied left hand and moaned “Alligator, alligator,” in broken English.

“He was still going into the shrubbery pulling up garbage,” said Anneli Kuebler. “If I didn’t notice him I don’t know how long he would have been out there working.”

She said she “tried to comfort him. He looked like he had been crying.”

The man had no identification but told investigators he was Raymundo Velasco, 49, of suburban Lake Worth.

Kuebler ran to get the attention of a nearby sheriff’s deputy, who was finishing up an investigation regarding a county parks employee who had lost his job earlier in the morning and who was found hanged at the county park west of Lake Worth.

The deputy made the gator-bitten man – who had bandaged his hand with a trash bag and a strip of crime-scene tape left after the suicide – lie down and called for paramedics.

“It seemed like he didn’t know what to do,” sheriff’s Deputy William Hess said.

Velasco, who lives west of Lake Worth, works for Maia Lawn and Landscape Services, based in Boynton Beach.

Officials said Velasco, who turned 49 on Friday, is about 5 feet 7 inches tall and weighs 130 pounds. The gator is about 8 feet long.

“He was dragged under water and he fought for his life,” Hess said.

He had been using a pole with a net to gather trash floating in the water off the island shortly before 1 p.m., officials say. The alligator evidently chomped his hand as he reached into the water to pick up a stray piece of garbage.

Velasco was flown by Trauma Hawk to Delray Medical Center as the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission called out trappers to hunt down and kill the aggressive gator.

He remained at Delray Medical Center on Tuesday night with non-life threatening injuries, officials said. He was bitten on the index and middle fingers, said Jon Garzaniti, a wildlife commission investigator.

Alligator attacks are rare because the reptiles tend to be frightened of humans. In the past 60 years there have been about 475 reported bites in Florida. The last fatal one was in 2007.

Today’s attack was the first of the year in Florida, said Gabriella Ferraro, a spokeswoman for the fish and wildlife commission.

Rick Kramer, the trapper sent by the commission to capture the gator, said park-goers throwing food to the animal may have been a factor in the attack.

“They’re probably coming down and feeding the alligator and it’s lost its fear of humans,” he said.

Trappers did not find the alligator by dusk.

Velasco may need surgery to salvage his fingers, Garzaniti said,

“He’s calm,” Garzaniti said of the victim. “As of now, [I'm] not sure if he’s going to lose them or not.”

Residents around the lake said the alligators aren’t aggressive.

“You get close to them and they turn around and go the other way,” said Jim Menor, 78, who has lived along the lake for half a century. “I see very few of them now. Fifty years ago, they were all over.”

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This is the time of year when the gators wake from hibernation, hungry and frisky. Children and pets really need to stay away from the water in Florida!

Warm weather welcomes alligators

By ANA GONI–LESSAN, Alligator Contributing Writer

People jogging around Lake Alice have more to worry about than a sunburn now that the weather is warming up.

Alligators in north Florida come out of hibernation in March, said Tony Young, the media relations coordinator for The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

“They’re hungry, they’re looking for food and mating season is just around the corner,” Young said. “You just need to be aware.” 

Young said that male alligators become more aggressive around mating season.

Parents with small children should not let them play near water without supervision, he said. Dogs are also at risk.

“Dogs are definitely some of the favorite prey of alligators,” Young said.

Brandon Moore, a UF biology graduate student who has studied alligators for seven years, said there are two important rules to remain safe while in the presence of alligators.

“Never feed an alligator, ever,” Moore said.

Alligators have a natural disposition to move away when approached by people, but this can change when they’re fed.

Also, give the alligator distance, he said, and let it go about its way.

If people find themselves in a threatening situation, they should move away slowly and quietly.

“Running is rarely a good thing to do in the wild,” Moore said. Running makes a person look like prey, which can provoke the animal.

Since 1948, there have been more than 275 unprovoked attacks in Florida, and 17 people have been killed, according to an alligator safety brochure on the commission’s Web site.

The first alligator attack of the year happened in Lake Worth in January, when an alligator injured a man’s hand and pulled him under water, according to an article in the Palm Beach Post.

Joe Fiore, a UF alumnus, visits Lake Alice to unwind after work and sees people feeding the turtles.

He said he thinks that the alligators aren’t afraid of people because of it.

“It’s not good for them,” he said. “Just let them be.”

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Of course, Florida is all about the Gators, but it’s nice to see the Crocodile population is “surging” there as well, enough to be downgraded from endangered to threatened.

Make way, gators: Croc numbers surge in South Fla.

By BRIAN SKOLOFF – 4 hours ago

CORAL GABLES, Fla. (AP) — Three dead dogs, and Chris Marin has had it.

He’s lived with his family along a canal just south of Miami for several years, and never had a fear of the water — until now.

“When we first moved in, I even put a swing on a tree here for my kids to plunge into the canal,” Marin said.

Then the poodles began to vanish from his backyard — first Spotty, then Luna and Angel.

The culprit? In much of Florida, the suspect would be an alligator. In this case, it’s an 11-foot American crocodile.

Marin, 49, said living on the water just isn’t worth it anymore. He’s packing up and moving.

“You barely get to enjoy the backyard,” he said. “My kids won’t even step out here.”

Listed as a federally endangered species in 1975, after hunting and habitat loss nearly wiped it from the wild, the American crocodile has surged to numbers not seen in a century. Today, the population is about 2,000 at the southern tip of Florida, the species’ only U.S. habitat, where the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has downgraded its status to threatened.

As it returns to its historical range — now populated by millions of humans — the American crocodile, which can grow to 15 feet, will be living more in people’s backyards, especially those closest to the coast.

“We’re seeing crocs in places they haven’t been seen in decades,” said Lindsey Hord, a biologist with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

It’s alarming to some residents, even in a state that already has more than a million alligators. Florida wildlife officials get thousands of complaints every year from residents fearful of gators, which can eat dogs, cats, and, very infrequently, people. About 140,000 problem alligators were killed in Florida between 1977 and 2007.

American crocodiles have never made a documented attack on a human in the U.S. Here, it’s domestic pets that more often become crocodile food.

“Crocodiles don’t see much distinction between some small mammal that they have naturally eaten, like a rabbit, and somebody’s dog,” Hord said.

Alligators can be found in any freshwater body throughout the state, likely part of the reason for so many attacks on humans — at least 312 unprovoked ones in Florida since 1948, 22 of them fatal — but crocodiles are confined to South Florida.

They need warmer temperatures, and live where salt and fresh water mix. Florida is the only place in the world where alligators and crocodiles coexist.

Crocodiles are distinguished from gators by their lighter color, narrower snout and an exposed fourth tooth on their lower jaw. While they haven’t attacked people in this country, American crocs have gone after people in parts of Mexico, Central and South America and the Caribbean.

Hord noted that human complaints are rising along with the American crocs’ numbers, which he said will likely continue to increase.

Several developments have aided the crocodile’s recovery, including habitat protection and some places not specifically set aside for the species. The animal has found an unlikely home on the grounds of Florida Power & Light’s Turkey Point nuclear plant about 30 miles south of Miami, a sort of replacement habitat for land lost to development in Miami Beach and Key Biscayne.

The remoteness of the site, which is closed to the public, has given the crocodile room to breed. They’ve reproduced so successfully that now they’re venturing out to populated areas.

Some are ending up in neighborhoods close to the coast, which crocs consider prime habitat, while alligators prefer more fresh water found inland. Christine Esco, who lives down the street from Marin, has a crocodile in her backyard canal that’s become so well known he’s even got a name: Pancho. It’s the same croc authorities suspect ate Marin’s dogs.

The 11-footer has been relocated twice to more remote areas, and twice he’s returned, typical behavior for the species.

Unlike the crocodile, whose protected status means it can only be relocated or put into captivity, problem alligators typically end up as meat and hide when they have to be removed because of safety concerns.

As for Pancho, the next time he is caught, he’ll go to a zoo. Crocodiles only get two chances. The third time they return, they are put in captivity.

“It’s very unnerving and scary,” Esco said. “I have two small children … Pancho, in my opinion, is a time bomb.”

Wildlife officials say residents simply need to take precautions: No swimming in crocodile waters between dusk and dawn, when they feed; supervise children near canals; and keep your pets well away from the water’s edge.

American crocodiles are generally less aggressive and more shy than alligators, and “the truth is you’re more likely to drown than be attacked by an alligator or a crocodile,” said University of Florida professor Frank Mazzotti, who has studied crocodiles for more than 30 years. “That said, don’t be stupid.”

Mazzotti said the American crocodile’s recovery in Florida “is a real endangered species success story.”

“The Endangered Species Act comes under a lot of attacks,” Mazzotti said. “Here is just an absolutely stunning example of the fact that it works.”

The crocodile’s future here depends at least in part on people’s willingness to adjust their behavior to live with the creature, Mazzotti said.

“Wildlife management,” he said, “is really people management.”

On the Net:

• A Guide to Living With Crocodiles:http://myfwc.com/docs/WildlifeHabitats/LivingwithCrocodiles.pdf

Link

It’s kind of like Jurassic Park, just not quite as exciting. A huge storm comes, and floodwaters set 30 Alligators free from their captivity. And now they are unaccounted for. And, no doubt, pretty hungry. 

People are being told to “keep an eye on their pets.”

Flood lets out alligators in Jackson Co

Keep an eye out for your pets

Updated: Wednesday, 01 Apr 2009, 6:53 PM CDT
Published : Wednesday, 01 Apr 2009, 2:56 PM CDT

• Cherish Lombard
• Taren Reed
• Photojournalist: Hal Scheurich

JACKSON COUNTY, Miss. – Recent rain caused a big problem in Jackson County: thirty alligators that were fenced in at the Gulf Coast Gator Ranch are now free.

“The water got high enough where it covered the fence so they went over the top of it”, said ranch owner Allan Adams. 

Adams said the rain sent about five feet of water into the Ranch, and the alligators floated over the chain-link fence. The alligators could be anywhere from the ranch, to the Gulf of Mexico.

“They got a couple of bayou’s around here called Bayou Heron and Bayou Cumbest, and typically that’s the direction they’re going to go when the waters recede”, said Adams. 

If you’re in that area, you may want to keep an eye on your pets. Alligators can eat pretty much anything. “Alligators are what we call opportunists. In other words they don’t let an opportunity go by to get a meal”, said Adams. 

He said generally the alligators won’t attack you unless they feel cornered and vulnerable. If you see them, don’t get too close, and don’t try to feed them.

Adams said just leave them alone and he’ll get them as soon as the water’s recede, and put them back in the fenced in areas.

Allan knows his alligators because they all are marked with a “u-shaped” notch in their tails when they are babies. Adams has high hopes that he’ll find all of his alligators, and he’ll continue touring the swamp until he does.

If you find an alligator in the Jackson County area, you can call him at 1-866-954-2867

Link

Darn. I guess this means I’ll have to take a raincheck on my plan to go nightswimming in the swamp with dead chicken carcasses strapped to my torso.

Be careful of alligators this time of year

For immediate release: March 30, 2009
Contact: Blair Hayman, 863-462-5195

Spring is when Florida’s alligators start getting active, and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) is urging Floridians and visitors to be cautious when having fun in and around water.

Alligators abound in all 67 counties and have shared marshes, swamps, rivers and lakes with people for centuries.  But, because more individuals are seeking waterfront property and water-related activities increase during the warm months, people should be alert when they are in areas where alligators could be present.

State law prohibits the harassing of alligators, and it is against the law to feed them.

The FWC recommends supervising children closely when they are playing in or around water.  There are other precautionary measures people should take to reduce potential conflicts with alligators, and they are available in the “Living with Alligators” brochure at MyFWC.com/gators.

The FWC annually receives more than 16,000 alligator-related complaints.  The agency removes about 8,500 alligators each year when the reptiles present potential danger to people or property.

According to the FWC, if you encounter an alligator that poses a threat to you, your pets or your property, and the alligator is more than 4 feet long, call the FWC’s toll-free Nuisance Alligator Hotline at 866-FWC-GATOR (392-4286).  The telephone number is the primary contact for all alligator complaints and is available to customers 24 hours a day.

Alligators are an important part of Florida’s heritage and play a valuable role in the ecosystems where they live.  For more information on alligator behavior, go to MyFWC.com/gators.

Remember, be on a special lookout for gators in the springtime… it’s their active season.

Link here.

Woman Pries Alligator From Husband’s Arm 
Florida Wildlife officers say the man was attacked and bitten on his right forearm by a 3-foot alligator. He was trying to remove it from his back porch. 

 

Tavares, Florida — A Lake County woman pried an alligator off her husband’s arm after the animal attacked him while he was trying to remove it from his back porch, officials said in a report from WTSP’s news partner WKMG Local 6. 

52-year-old James Gaff of Tavares, was bitten on his right forearm this past weekend by the 3-foot alligator after the animal entered the back porch of his Lake Eustis Drive home through an open door, wildlife officials said. 

A Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission report stated that Gaff’s wife pried the gator off her husband’s arm with a broom handle. The couple returned the alligator to a canal behind their home, the report said. 

Gaff was treated at Waterman Hospital for minor cuts and scrapes. 

The attack shouldn’t be considered too unusual, as the FWC says that springtime is when Florida’s alligators start becoming active. 

In a press release, the FWC says that because more individuals are seeking waterfront property and water-related activities increase during the warm months, people should be alert when they are in areas where alligators could be present. 

State law prohibits the harassing of alligators, and it is against the law to feed them. 

The FWC recommends supervising children closely when they are playing in or around water. 

According to the FWC, if you encounter an alligator that poses a threat to you, your pets or your property, and the alligator is more than 4 feet long, call the FWC’s toll-free Nuisance Alligator Hotline at 866-FWC-GATOR (392-4286). The telephone number is the primary contact for all alligator complaints and is available to customers 24 hours a day. 

Alligators are an important part of Florida’s heritage and play a valuable role in the ecosystems where they live. For more information on alligator behavior, go toMyFWC.com/gators.

 

 

Source: WTSP/WKMG6

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