Gators and I Don't Mean Football
My loyal reader, George, pointed an article out to me the other day about an 8 foot gator living in a yard not far from me. (George and I live in the same county and read the same newspaper.)
So this chicky girl, who hails from New York, comes home and finds an 8 foot gator living in the pond in her backyard... and she freaks out and calls Fish and Wildlife or whatever they're called to come get it, but they won't do anything unless it's in her yard or up close to her home.
Yup. That about sums it up. We live in swampland down here, reclaimed Everglades. There are gators all over. I had a neighbor with a 5 foot gator in her yard a couple years back and if you don't think a 5 foot gator is big, I beg to differ. I'd just as soon not tangle with one of those. It's only 2 inches shorter than I, and far stronger and faster. It took a day for them to come out and it was IN HER YARD CLOSE TO HER HOUSE!
I've had a gator in my back yard, but it was only a 3 footer. When I worked at my last place of work, we'd get them in the parking lot all the time. Sometimes someone would hit one with their car or there would be a near miss.
It's really bad when we've had heavy rain... the canals and lakes merge into the streets and then the gators don't really know where home is... it all looks the same!
We have rules in our house. No kids by the lake. Our lake is a couple hundred yards from the house and kids by the lake is serious trouble. Big Big Serious Trouble and I have put the fear of God into them. But that's a whole other blog story about how that happened... my kids, a lake and a gator.
posted by Bou | 10:22 PM
12 Comments:
So... what's the rule on "accidentally" feeding these things rat-poison-burgers?
Harvey? I think it's Don't Do It or you'll go to jail. ;-)
There's a lot of swamp land in South Louisiana; however, Gators don't seem to be a problem, except for the occasional stray dog. Ever wonder why?
;-)
When I lived in Boca a gator was in someone's back yaed and their poodle was missing. No one ever saw the garot eat the poodle, but they all thought it did.
I think one of our newspaper's photographers won an award with a gator photo.
The gator had a Martin County cop "treed' up on the trunk of his patrol car, with the deputy pointing his handgun down at the angry gator on the road below him.
--George
Grau:
The game and fish cops say the gators were here first and we need to learn to live with them. I saw a kid fishing accidentally catch a 3-foot gator. The kid wanted to save it to show Dad. Mom called the game cops, who told her to cut it loose, it isn't big enough to hurt anyone. Yet.
You CAN get revenge, of sorts. They have a legal hunting season. So we sometimes take newcomers to restaurants that serve gator tail to welcome them to Florida. It tastes just like...... pork, kinda bland and it can be tough if you don't cook it right.
-- George
Get yourself a shotgun and a shovel. And if you're in an area of Florida where everything is too sandy to dig a hole, get a shotgun and a pickup truck.
Bou, I remember working at 'That Company' and walking from the parking lot 3 miles out (seemed like it anyways) to the office and watching about 3 people go the easiest route, stop, backup and go another way. I, too, took the easiest route only to discover about a 5 foot gator between the cars in that direction. Since those of us who have lived in Florida for any length of time know that a gator can run faster than a human (at least for a short distance) decided to backup and go another (and longer) route.
I also remember the idiots who walked around the lake at lunch going down to look at the 'white feathers' near the water. Bozos. Even I could tell from a LONG distance it was what was left of a bird eaten by a gator. Hence, the gator(s) must still be around. I could just picture a gator saying "Yummy yummy... human leg for lunch." Though, the ones in the lake sometimes were 10 feet long, it could be "yummy yummy, human body for lunch."
In Tallahassee, I had a friend who was playing with her Yellow Lab in one of the local parks. The dog went down to the lake and was quickly pulled under by a HUGE gator...never to be seen again. She was traumatized for some time.
It's Florida, there are gators and they did live there first.
Morrigan
I still prefer them over Gainesville Gators.
Toluca Nole
Gee, here in Ankeny, IA, we have a rabbit living under our bushes...and maybe a squirrel. The most harm that can come from them is dying from laughter as the Toby (90 pound mutt) starts chasing Mr. Rabbit and gets distracted by a dandelion.
I have admitted it in the past, and I will admit it now. I am absolutely scared shitless of alligators and, as such, living anywhere near where those hideous beasts frequent is not option. I hate 'em.
By contrast, I'm not afraid of clowns. I just hate 'em.
Jim
Parkway Rest Stop
http://parkwayreststop.com
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