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Considering just how rare Mountain Lion attacks are, it seems like lately officials are euthanizing way too quickly.

Cougar killed after
entering courtyards

Updated: Thursday, 23 Apr 2009, 4:23 PM MDT
Published : Thursday, 23 Apr 2009, 3:35 PM MDT

• Web Producer: Todd Dukart

ELDORADO AT SANTA FE, N.M. (KRQE) – Game wardens have killed a cougar who entered the courtyards of two Santa Fe-area homes.

The 100-pound female cougar was captured and euthanized after she was found Monday at the homes in the Eldorado subdivision.

Game warden Desi Ortiz said the cougar showed no fear when he arrived at the first home. The animal stared back at him as he positioned himself with a tranquilizer gun.

Ortiz said he hit the mountain lion in the hind leg with a tranquilizer dart. She jumped over the wall to the courtyard and went missing.

A short time later, Ortiz was called to another home where a cougar was seen staggering into the courtyard.

New Mexico Department of Game and Fish officials said the original plan was to move the animal to the Jemez Mountains, but she was euthanized after officials determined she was too dangerous to people.

Dan Williams with Game and Fish said in a news release the cougar appeared to have lost its fear of humans.

Tips to avoid encounters with mountain lions and other large predators, according to Game and Fish:

• Do not feed wildlife. Use native plants, not non-natives, so as to not attract deer, which are the primary prey of lions. Remember, predators follow prey.
• Do not let your pets roam around outside. Bring them in at night. If you keep pets outside, provide a kennel with a secure top. Do not feed pets outside where the food can attract lions or other smaller animals which lions prey upon. Store and dispose of all garbage securely.
• Closely supervise children. Make sure they are home before dusk and not outside before dawn. Make lots of noise if you come or go during times when mountain lions are most active — dusk to dawn. Teach your children about lions and what they should do if they encounter one.
• Landscape or remove vegetation to eliminate hiding cover for lions, especially around areas where children play. Make it difficult for a lion to approach unseen.
• Install outdoor lighting, especially in areas where you walk, so you can see a lion if one were present.
• Close off open spaces below porches or decks.
• Place all livestock in enclosed sheds or barns at night. Close the doors to all outbuildings so that an inquisitive lion is prevented from going inside to look around.
• Also, if you encounter a mountain lion:

Stop or back away slowly if you can do so safely.

• Stay calm when you come upon a lion talk calmly yet firmly to it and move slowly.
• Immediately pick up all children off the ground and tell them to stay calm.
• Do not run from a lion as fleeing behavior may trigger the instinct of the lion to attack.
• Face the lion — do not turn your back — remain in an upright position and look as large as possible (raise your arms, open up your coat, if your wearing one).
• Carry a walking stick and use it to defend yourself by keeping it between you and the lion. If the lion approaches closer or behaves aggressively, arm yourself with the stick, throw rocks or sticks at the lion, and speak louder and more firmly to the lion. Convince the lion you are dominant and a danger to it.
• Fight back if a lion attacks you. Use any possible object within reach as a weapon, such as rocks, sticks, jackets, a backpack or your bare hands. Lions have been driven away by prey that fights back. Stay standing and if you fall down try to get back up on your feet.
• Call police if you feel you are in danger.

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Are cougars returning to Midwest? w/ Missouri mountain lion sighting info

— By Andy Ostmeyer
aostmeyer@joplinglobe.com
Earlier this year, a young Barton County boy reported being attacked by a mountain lion.
“He was knocked off his feet, he claimed, and actually dragged by his sleeve by a mountain lion,” said James Dixon, a wildlife damage biologist for the Missouri Department of Conservation.
It’s Dixon’s job to check on such reports, and this time, the boy also claimed he had managed to stab the animal with a pocket knife.
Both the coat and the knife were sent to a laboratory to test for DNA evidence, but none was confirmed.
Although attacks are rare, Dixon said reports of cougars are increasingly common in Missouri, and they’re also growing throughout the Midwest.
“We get thousands — I’m talking literally thousands — of reports each year,” Dixon said.
Many come after heavy snows when people report finding large tracks, but those almost always turn out to be cases of misidentification: bobcats, dogs and even house cats. 
Still, there have been some positive identifications in Missouri.
“Across the entire state, we have had 10 confirmed mountain lions since 1994,” said Dixon. 
Some mountain lions, which also are called cougars and pumas, may be making their way into the Midwest by migrating from the Black Hills of South Dakota, which has a stable population, or perhaps from west Texas.
A cougar was shot and killed by police in Bossier City, La., in December. In April 2008, Chicago police shot and killed a 122-pound cougar in the city’s North Side. And in 2007, the first documented cougar in Kansas in more than 100 years was killed near Medicine Lodge.
In Missouri, cougars have been hit by cars in Kansas City and Fulton, captured on game cameras, and treed by hunting dogs in one instance. 
The closest to Joplin was a confirmed sighting in Christian County in the winter of 1997, but Dixon said that animal, which was caught on video, was believed to have been a captured animal that either escaped or was released, based on its behavior.
Aside from a small population in south Florida, Texas and the Black Hills have been the eastern boundary of the cougar’s breeding range.
Like Missouri, Wisconsin game managers get scores of reported sightings each year and have to determine which are false.
Only two cougars have been confirmed in the state. The cougar killed in Chicago was seen months earlier in the Milton area of Wisconsin’s Rock County, 100 miles away, in January 2008. 
Ken Jonas, a wildlife biologist supervisor with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, said the only ways to confirm sightings are with photos, good tracks or other physical evidence. In the case of the confirmed sightings, blood, hair, urine and droppings were recovered.
Researchers learned a lot from the cat that roamed the Milton area for three months before being shot, said Eric Anderson, a professor of wildlife ecology at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point.
“Here’s a cat wandering across the landscape of southern Wisconsin and northern Illinois, a fairly heavily populated area, and nobody saw it,” he said.
Male cougars like that have been moving out from the Black Hills. Anderson said an estimated 20 to 25 young males are believed to leave there each year, looking for females as well as food. Some wander hundreds of miles.
He expects Wisconsin will eventually have resident cougars.
Dixon said the animals are shy and secretive, and rarely seen, let alone confirmed. 
Still, the department takes the reports seriously and will investigate when there is some evidence left behind, such as tracks or a kill. And the prey base has grown in Missouri and other states, which have large deer populations.
“We do know that occasionally a mountain lion does wander into Missouri, but we do not believe we have a reproducing population,” Dixon said. Only one female was identified among the 10 confirmed sightings in the state, and no cubs have ever been found.
Dixon and others say that if their states had breeding populations, they would expect more cougars to be killed on roads and found feeding on livestock, and more evidence would be found in areas where the animals spent time, Jonas said. South Dakota, said Dixon, which has a much lower road density, has a much higher percentage of road kills.
The Missouri Department of Conservation also has established a Mountain Lion Response Team, which goes to sites and collects evidence when a credible report that might offer hard evidence is filed.
Jeff Beringer, large mammal biologist with the Missouri Department of Conservation and a member of the response team, confirmed that sightings are extremely rare, even for biologists and experienced outdoorsmen. He said he has been on tracking teams in New Mexico and has received additional training in the Black Hills, yet, he added: “I have never seen one in the wild.”
The Associated Press contributed to this story.

Last natives
Prior to 1994, the last mountain lion documented in Missouri was in 1927. They were gone from Iowa by 1867 and from Nebraska by 1890. Until recently, they were last seen in Wisconsin in 1908 and in Kansas in 1904.

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Rattler’s reputation takes a toxic turn for the worse

Experts suspect species is becoming deadlier

By Scott LaFee (Contact) Union-Tribune Staff Writer

2:00 a.m. April 20, 2009

With warming weather comes the return of rattlesnakes and renewed reports that one species of the slithering reptile may be biting more people and becoming more dangerous.

In recent years, some doctors and toxicologists in Southern California and across the Southwest have reported anecdotal evidence of an increase in snakebite cases, with more patients suffering extreme – sometimes fatal – consequences.

Last summer, San Diego Poison Control officials said the recorded number of “unusually powerful” snakebites had increased for the second consecutive year. Media attention has fanned the furor, most recently an article in the current issue of Scientific American that suggests the venom of the southern Pacific rattlesnake, a common species in San Diego County, is becoming “extratoxic.”

That’s bad news for potential bite victims and arguably worse news for rattlesnakes, but some herpetologists and snake experts question whether the phenomenon is real.

Each year, the San Diego division of the California Poison Control System records 40 to 60 rattlesnake bites in San Diego County, said Dr. Richard Clark, a toxicologist at the University of California San Diego and medical director of the local poison control center. In 2004, the poison control system recorded 42 rattlesnake bites to humans in the county. In 2005, there were 45; in 2006, 54; in 2007, 47; and last year, 41.

The real number is higher, Clark said, because snakebites are not among cases that doctors are required to report. Clark said he believes that locally, one or two snakebites in 2008 were fatal.

In the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there are roughly 7,000 reported venomous snakebites each year, 15 of which on average prove fatal.

Clark said the number of snakebites varies with shifting environmental conditions. Wildfires, for example, can substantially affect rattlesnake habitat, reproduction rates and prey availability. He predicted that the annual number of rattlesnake bites will trend upward “as we continue to build and expand into East County and snake habitat.”

San Diego County is home to four species of rattlesnake: the speckled, the red diamond, the sidewinder and the southern Pacific, which is a subspecies of the western rattlesnake and the most abundant rattler in the region.

It’s the southern Pacific rattlesnake that’s generating headlines and concern, with speculation that the species is evolving and expanding into a more dangerous animal. To some degree, scientists say, there are reasons to worry.

First, southern Pacifics are more widely distributed than other indigenous rattlesnakes. They live in diverse habitat from the beaches to the mountains, and they are tolerant of disturbed, developed areas.

“Southern Pacific rattlesnakes thrive where people prefer to live, so people encounter them relatively frequently,” said Dr. Sean Bush, a professor of emergency medicine at Loma Linda University and a snake researcher.

Second, the snakes appear to be more easily annoyed than other species and are more likely to defend themselves aggressively. Clark described them as having “nasty dispositions” and more inclined than other rattlers to bite before retreat.

Bush called them “people-biting snakes.”

It’s the bite, of course, that concerns doctors, scientists and potential victims. Rattlesnake venom is a lethal cocktail of toxins that quickly causes significant tissue damage and hemorrhaging. The bitten prey weakens and dies, and then the snake consumes it.

In humans, an ordinary rattlesnake bite produces initial swelling and bruising around the wound, but quick treatment and new antivenins mean rattlesnake bites are rarely fatal.

There is research to indicate that the venom of at least some southern Pacific rattlesnakes contains an additional deadly ingredient: a fast-acting neurotoxin that affects breathing and muscle control. (A telling symptom of a southern Pacific bite is rapid, uncontrollable muscle twitching.)

A neurotoxin is also present in the Mohave rattlesnake, a deadlier, desert-dwelling species found primarily in Arizona and Mexico, though part of its range reaches into eastern San Diego County.

Some researchers have speculated that interbreeding with Mohave rattlesnakes has produced a deadlier version of the southern Pacific. Richard Dart, director of the Rocky Mountain Poison and Drug Center in Denver, said it’s possible. “If they’re rattlesnakes, they’ll interbreed. I’ve seen it in the lab, though it’s probably not something that happens in nature every mating season.”

William Hayes, a biologist and snake researcher at Loma Linda University, is more skeptical. He dismisses the idea that southern Pacific rattlesnakes are naturally evolving a more toxic venom. The majority of western rattlesnakes lack neurotoxins in their venom, he said. If some southern Pacific rattlesnakes do in fact have them, it’s likely to be an unidentified toxin.

Bush suggests the phenomenon may be an example of convergent evolution.

“That is, an animal develops a similar trait because it utilizes it for a similar task,” Bush said. “Sort of like giraffes and brontosauruses both having long necks, probably to feed on leaves high in trees.”

On one thing all of the researchers agree: Size matters in snakebites. Adult victims tend to fare better than children because of greater body mass. And the bigger the snake, the worse its bite.

“I don’t know where the myth about baby rattlers being more dangerous came from,” said Dr. Roy Johnson, an Escondido-based physician and herpetologist. “The key is how much venom is injected, and a big snake injects a lot more venom than a small snake.”

Anecdotal reports of nastier snakebites may be due to a proportionate increase in big snakes. Hayes said chronic drought conditions in Southern California may have reduced reproductive rates among rodents and other small mammals, which are the southern Pacific’s preferred prey.

As a result, the rattlesnake’s reproductive rate has also declined, reducing the number of juvenile snakes. “We may well be seeing a shift toward more bites being inflicted by larger rattlesnakes simply because smaller snakes may now be disproportionately few,” Hayes said. Southern Pacific rattlesnakes can grow up to 4 feet in length.

Snakebite data suggest big snakes usually bite big people. Children tend to be bitten by small rattlesnakes they stumble upon inadvertently. Adults are more often bitten by rattlesnakes they try to pick up.

“If anything, we can expect the escalating emphasis on snakes in nature television programming to inspire more people to make dumb decisions about handling venomous snakes,” Hayes said. “We might be seeing a shift in the demography of snakebite victims, with more adult men, many under the influence of alcohol, getting bitten by snakes they should not have been messing with.”

Johnson, the Escondido physician who has treated hundreds of snakebite victims over 30 years, agreed: “Mostly people get bitten because they tried picking up a snake, because they weren’t smart enough to know better.”

HOW TO TREAT A BITE

Rattlesnake bites are rarely fatal when the victim receives fast treatment. Administering antivenin is critical. Traditional first aid, such as applying ice, using a tourniquet or putting suction to the wound, may cause more harm than good.

If the bite occurs while in a remote setting, the wounded area should be immobilized (especially if it is an arm or leg) and the victim quickly but safely transported to the nearest phone. Dial 911 and wait for assistance. If no phone is available, drive to a hospital or clinic.

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LOCAL RATTLESNAKES

 

WESTERN/SOUTHERN PACIFIC 
Crotalus viridis helleri

Description: Up to 4 feet in length. Light gray or brown, with pale margins around dorsal blotches. At higher elevations, specimens may be black. Juveniles have yellow-green tails.

Habitat: Seacoast to pine-wooded mountain ranges.

Behavior: Aggressively defensive.

RED DIAMOND 
Crotalus ruber

Description: Usually in the 3-foot range, though some adults may exceed 5 feet. Distinctively reddish or tan, with subtle diamond pattern on back and a black-and-white tail.

Habitat: Areas of rock and brush, such as coastal sage scrub.

Behavior: Generally docile, though individual temperaments vary.

SOUTHWESTERN SPECKLED 
Crotalus mitchelli pyrrhus

Description: Up to 3 feet in length. Color matches earth tones of environs, with black speckles forming indistinct bars or blotches on back. Dark rings on tail.

Habitat: Most abundant in inland rocky areas and in the desert.

Behavior: Alert, nervous and quick to rattle when disturbed.

SIDEWINDER 
Crotalus cerastes

Description: Rarely exceeds 2 feet. Generally pale tan and pink, matching desert sands. Dark square blotches on backside. Hornlike protrusions above eyes.

Habitat: Sandy desert

Behavior: Quick and elusive, leaving distinctive J-shaped tracks.

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Tornadoes hit Holiday, Land O’Lakes; watch remains for Tampa Bay

Tornadoes were spotted in the Trinity Oaks subdivision 4 miles east of Holiday and just north of State Road 54 and U.S. 41 in Land O’Lakes, according to the National Weather Service. The tornadoes are part of a fierce front sweeping through Tampa Bay, bringing hail and wind gusts of 60 mph.

No injuries were reported in Trinity, but damage was widespread. Trees were uprooted, and roof tiles littered Middlesex and Davenport streets in the Wyntree subdivision. A bit further north, power lines fell along Ridge Road in New Port Richey, and some traffic signals were out. Across Pasco County, emergency crews were responding to similar reports of damage and power loss in the Land O’Lakes area. The traffic signals at the busy intersection of I-75 and SR 56 were out at 10 a.m.

The NWS reported a strong rotation on Doppler radar near Dunedin but has received no reports of damage. All tornado warnings for the Tampa Bay area have been dropped.

Tampa Fire Rescue has reported four car accidents and a number of blown transformers due to heavy rain and wind. Crews are on the way to restore power to four stoplights on Florida Avenue and Busch Boulevard. Drivers are crossing the intersection at random, increasing the potential for an accident, responders said.

 

Trees and power lines are reportedly down in north Tarpon Springs, and pea-sized hail was reported in the Citrus Park area.

The morning tornando warning was issued because a storm system moving across the upper Mississippi River Valley and Great Lakes with a cold front extending south from it is about to meet warm, moist air in the northeastern Gulf of Mexico.

When the fronts meet, the cold front provides the “lifting mechanism” and changing wind directions that can breed tornadoes. The front should push through by mid afternoon.

Otherwise, there is a 60 percent chance of precipitation today, with thunderstorms most likely after 2 p.m. Highs will reach near 79 degrees with southwest winds between 13 and 23 mph. According to the NWS, rainfall amounts between 0.5 and 0.75 of an inch are possible.

Lows should drop to the high 60s tonight with rain chances diminishing.

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3 drown off Panhandle beaches over weekend

DESTIN, Fla. – Authorities say two swimmers and a kayaker drowned off Panhandle beaches over the Easter weekend.

The Destin Fire Control District says 39-year-old Joseph Jones from Riverdale, Ga., died Friday after going into the water off Destin to help others caught in a rip current. The others survived.

An unidentified airman stationed at Eglin Air Force Base drowned later Friday after being caught in a rip current also off Destin while tossing a football back and forth in waist-deep water with his brother-in-law.

Authorities say red flags warning beach goers to stay out of the water because of the rip currents flew throughout the weekend.

Fourteen-year-old Trevor Mills of Panama City Beach died Sunday night following a kayaking accident in the Gulf of Mexico.

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Experts are calling for an average hurricane season in the U.S., with 12 named storms developing. Last year they called for a similar amount, and we got 16.

Forecasters Make 2009 Hurricane Predictions

BALTIMORE (WJZ) ―

The numbers are in and forecasters are predicting a less active hurricane season than last year.

Meteorologist Tim Williams reports two major research centers have posted their numbers for the 2009 season ahead.

In a little more than a month-and-a-half, the United States will brace itself for the 2009 Atlantic hurricane season.

Two major U.S. research centers are Colorado State University’s hurricane team and the team from North Carolina State.  This year, forecasters are expecting a busy, but average hurricane season.

Colorado State is calling for 12 named storms this year, with six of those becoming hurricanes.  Two could become major, which means Category 3 or higher.

N.C. State’s team says between 11 and 14 tropical storms could be named.  Six to eight of those could strengthen to hurricane force.  Both teams agree two could become major.

This forecast is closely watched by energy, commodities and insurance markets since a series of storms rolled through the Gulf of Mexico during the 2005 season.  That year produced Hurricane Katrina, and was the costliest for oil and gas fields in U.S. history.

N.C. State predicts a 40 percent chance of a major hurricane hitting the Gulf Coast .  Colorado State thinks the odds are lower at 31 percent, with a 32 percent chance that a hurricane could hit the East Coast.

Last year, hurricane forecasters called for a slightly more active season than average. Twelve named storms is average, but we got 16.

The hurricane season runs from June 1 to Nov. 30.

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Area sinkhole remains active

By Stella Davis
Current-Argus Staff Writer

Posted: 04/10/2009 09:02:37 PM MDT

CARLSBAD — A sinkhole northeast of Carlsbad is not growing quickly, but it is still active, an expert said.George Veni, executive director of the National Cave and Karst Research Institute in Carlsbad, said aerial photographs taken this past week show very little change since the last photos were taken in October.

The sinkhole is located on state trust land about 24 miles northeast of Carlsbad approximately 17 miles southeast of Artesia on Hagerman Road (County Road 217), between County Road 206 and State Highway 360, about 100 yards north of the roadway.

Until the collapse last July, the site was the location of a brine well operated by Jim’s Water Service.

Veni, speaking Thursday at New Mexico State University’s Carlsbad campus on sink holes and what causes them, said there is a possibility that within the next 10 years, County Road 217 will have to be rerouted.

“If this sinkhole continues to grow, it will make the road unstable and subsidence could occur,” he said.

On the morning on July 18 at about 8:15 a.m. a driver for Jim’s Water Service went to the Loco Hills site to check the well. When he heard a rumbling noise in the ground, he realized something was wrong and reacted quickly to get safely away from the area.

Veni said for scientists like him, the uniqueness of this sinkhole is that it is the first one that’s formation was actually captured by seismograph equipment networking in the area.

Explaining how the sinkhole occurred, Veni said there are three types of sinkhole. The sinkhole, named “Jim’s Sinkhole,” is considered a solution sinkhole.

Solution sinkholes form where soluble bedrock such as limestone, dolomite, marble and rock salt is exposed at the land surface. This allows it to be subjected to weathering by dissolution. Surface water collects in natural depressions and slowly dissolves a sinkhole.

In brine wells, water is injected and brine water is brought back to the surface. The constant up and down action can eventually cause a collapse of the earth and the opening can grow to an enormous diameter.

Veni noted that another sinkhole in November occurred in the Lakewood area in North Eddy County, and it too, is slowly growing. It is also considered a solution sinkhole.

Veni said since the occurrence of the two solution-type sinkholes last year, the state Oil Conservation Division has tightened up and strengthened its brine well production regulations to prevent more collapses

However, the sinkhole that occurred in December south of Carlsbad near the New Mexico-Texas state line was of a different nature, he said.

He said that particular sinkhole named “Cat Sinkhole” because it swallowed a large Caterpillar tractor with its operator inside could not have been prevented.

The operator, who was unaware that he was perched on a potential sinkhole, was brought to the surface after waiting for help to arrive for more than an hour. He was 40 feet below the surface.

Veni explained that the Cat Sinkhole is considered a collapse sinkhole. It forms when surface materials suddenly sink into a subsurface cavity or cave. The cavities form slowly over time, as groundwater moves along fractures in soluble bedrock and enlarges them though dissolution.

The collapse can occur two ways: The first is when a cavity gets sufficiently large and the roof becomes too thin to support the weight of any overlying rock or sediment, so it collapses into the cavity.

The second is when caves are sometimes able to support the weight of overlying sediments because they are filled with groundwater. However, if groundwater levels are lowered, then the overlying sediment will first erode and then collapse into the de-watered cavity.

In the area of Cat Sinkhole, there are known cave formations. However, this one was unknown. Fortunately, the heavy machine landed on a ledge that stopped a further drop down into the opening.

Veni said a study of sinkhole locations in the region has been conducted and areas have been mapped where potential sinkholes could occur. Most in this area appear to be in remote locations.

 

How do sinkholes develop and enlarge?

Sinkholes are depressions or holes in the land surface. They can be shallow or deep, small or large, but all result from the dissolving of the underlying limestone. Hydrologic conditions, including lack of rainfall, lowered water levels, or conversely, excessive rainfall in a short period of time (especially after a drought), can all contribute to sinkhole development. New construction, new roads and any diversion of water flow are also common culprits.

Source: http://www.sinkholes.net/new_page_5.htm

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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

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This seems like a pretty tame attack, as shark attacks go. Maybe just a nip. But wow, thigh deep water really isn’t very deep at all, huh?

Teen bitten by shark in shallow water

By JEFF LYSIAK, jlysiak@breezenewspapers.com

A teenager swimming in thigh-deep water was apparently bitten by a shark off the western shoreline of Sanibel Friday afternoon.

According to a report released by the city, the Sanibel Police Department responded to a call at 4:11 p.m. on the beach adjacent to the Dosinia Condominium, at 3339 West Gulf Drive. Upon arriving, police discovered a 15-year-old male who appeared to be suffering from a shark bite.

Although no specific details of the incident or the identity of the victim have been released, police did say the teen was taken to a local hospital.

City Manager Judie Zimomra said that she cannot recall any shark attacks on Sanibel since before Hurricane Charley.

“It’s been at least five years since we’ve seen any shark interaction with humans here,” said Zimomra, who noted that smaller sharks or groups of sharks have been seen periodically off the coast of the island, without any incident.

In August 2008, a 47-year-old Cape Coral man, Jack Miller, reported what he believed to be a shark bite. He sustained the injury to his right arm while swimming in front of the Sanibel Moorings, located at 845 East Gulf Drive.

Miller also reported that he bandaged the injury himself and did not require additional medical attention.

Following Friday’s shark attack, members of the Sanibel Police Department have been going door-to-door to residences, hotels and condominiums handing out information to visitors and residents. The City of Sanibel released a list of precautions that swimmers can take to protect themselves while out in the water:

Swim, dive or surf with other people – never alone. Sharks are more likely to attack a solitary individual.

Avoid swimming between sandbars, near steep drop-offs, near channels or at river mouths where sharks are found.

Avoid wearing shiny jewelry that might simulate the scales of a prey fish, and also avoid uneven tanning and contrasting, bright-colored clothing.

Don’t swim at dusk or at night.

Refrain from excessive splashing.

Keep pets and domestic animals, with their erratic movements, out of the water.

Don’t swim near people who are fishing or spear-fishing, chumming or using live bait.

Avoid spreading blood or human wastes in the water. Do not enter the water if bleeding from an open wound or if menstruating – a shark’s olfactory ability is acute.

If schooling fish start to behave erratically or congregate in large numbers, leave the area. Diving seabirds are good indicators of schooling bait fish or feeding activity.

Sightings of porpoises do not indicate the absence of sharks. Both often eat the same food items.

If a shark is sighted in the area, leave the water as calmly and quickly as possible.

Do not harass a shark if one is spotted.

Additional information can be obtained from www.mote.org/sharks or at www.flmnh.ufl.edu/fish/sharks .

Sharks are often found along the beaches in the Gulf of Mexico, and while attacks on humans have been reported in the past, they are still considered to be very rare.

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