Posted: 6/26/2005 11:37:40 AM EDT
|
The hurricanes last summer created a nice little white sand beach out behind our house. One of our neighbors has a couple of dogs and they got loose and come over to play in the water. As my wife was on the phone with them a large gator began to aproach out of the deeper water. We could see him easily from our vantage point but I guess the dogs were obilivious to the danger. My house sits on a hill and although we have a back porch it is about an 8' drop to the ground. We were yelling to the dogs but all that did was get their attention focused on us and away from the gator. I don't think they ever saw it anyway. I could see this approach wasn't going to work so AI took off and ran to the front door around the house and out back. As I came around the corner I could see that the gator was within 2 feet of the dogs. I guess the sight of a short fat wildman screaming at the top of his lungs was too much for him, he took off with a huge splash. Even though there are larger ones in the area this gator was pretty big, probably eight to ten feet. He resurfaced in the deeper water and watched as I shooed the dogs home. That was really close I thought for a second we were watching something I have heard of before but never been witness to. The dogs ran home as happy as could be never knowing the danger they were in. BTW Took me ten minutes to type this because my hands are still shaking. 
|
[Josie Wales]  Actually I like dogs, so I'm glad the gator went hungry this time........But if it han been a cat... .......
|
I am a native Floridian, and have been a avid fisherman all my life. I have been wadeing in Lake Toho 100 yards from shore with gators all around and they usually ignore you although I have had them become curious and follow for a while. They are typicaly very timid and shy away if you aproach very closely. It is very rare although not unheard of for a gator to attack an adult human (especially one as fat as me), but they will attack small children and dogs that are the right size for a meal. This being said it was not my intention to enter the water I was hopeing to scare the gator away and it worked. I hadn't thought far enough ahead to know what I would have done if he had keept comeing. When ever I hear of a gator atacking someone the first thing that comes to my mind is who has been feeding it. They lose their fear of humans when they are fed and associate people with food. Uaually a disaster waiting to hapen. Most bodies of water in Florida have gators in them, including retention ponds and very small lakes. There are thousands of swimming holes that are used all over Florida and whether the swimmers know it or not they are in gator territory. 
|
| personally I'd shoo thte fucking thing if i saw it eatin' one of the nieghbors pets(thats if i like that neighbor)....plus after 6ft they're supposed to be destroyed, I don't personally mind gators, but not in my backyard, in the everglades they can get as big as they want, but when they start looking at my dog and/or kid as food |
 Where did that fun fact come from? |
well it happens down here in miami alot, if there is a nuisance gator and it's over 6ft its destroyed, anything smaller and they find a home for it in the glades......but I found this out when some kids for a senior prank caught a 8ft gator, taped the mouth shut and let it loose in the school. The county guy that was with the gator dude said thats what they do, and heard it on the news a few times from other incidents....I'll ask one of my buddies again tomorrow, but i'm about 95% + that thats what they do. |
Ummm, just WOW! Bigfeet |
Around here (Tampa) if the gator is over 5 feet, it is just relocated. |
it may change from city to city, as we have alot of them here, i can't personally speak for tampa, but you cant piss in a canal here without hitting one |
|
I don't think the state issues any hunting permits for gators in Lake Apopka hence there lots of em here. When our house was under construction I counted 26 that I could see on the surface at one time. This probably represented between 1/4 to 1/2 mile of shore line. I saw one with a large bird in his mouth within the last couple of weeks, I don't know what species of bird only that it was a rather large white wading bird with black legs. Usually the birds give them plenty of space and I did not witness the capture, only the gator parading back and forth just outside the weed line trying to figure out how to swallow his prize. I don't think that this was the same one that was after the dogs, that one seemed much larger. I have a lot of respect for alligators, they were here before me. I would not want to do anything that would cause the state to have to destroy one. Other than spending hours observing I treat them as if they are not there, don't try to attract them or harass them. I have tried to get good pictures of them but they are wary and I don't have a high power telephoto lens for may camera. |
only miccosukes(sp?)/seminoles can are allowed to capture/hunt/whatever with them, but even then I think they limit it to soo much for population reasons i'd guess. I'm all for'em, so long as they don't eat my crittters/kids/family |
That fun fact gets thrown around alot here in the Panhandle too... |