Thoughts on Alligator attacks...

[bman]

Been thinking about the kid that was killed at Disney and how many time I have been swimming in water that I know had gators in it.
In High School we used to ski a lot at Lake Jackson, I've jumped in the St Marks and Wakulla many times.
Then I saw this graphic-
I guess this is why we need to hunt them but it seems we do too little

Gators were declared endangered in 1973.
Back in the day I know a lot of people shot them on site or at least didn't care if someone shot one.
Now we pull permits to hut a few. Our last trip on Jackson we easily saw 300 Alligators. More on our trips to Miccosukee.

Thoughts?

[DixieReb]

I don't think it's good for the fishing to have so many gators in a lake. The last 2 lakes I fished that were really infested with gators, we didn't catch anything worth keeping and had to stay on constant guard moving the boat around to stay off of them. We spooked a big one over at Seminole and I thought he was coming into the boat, scared us good .

[Gulf Coast]

Do you guys appreciate rednecks now ? When I was younger.... well there was not a problem with them....

[ugadawg]

There are reports that the tourists at Disney regularly fed the gators in that lake. That gator that grabbed the kid probably bit him thinking that he was being fed from tourists like normal. If the gator really grabbed the kid from a predatory action, I believe that the gator would have eaten the kid, but it seems that the kid was found in one piece.

[GaryDroze]

I am constantly in close proximity to alligators - some of them over 10 feet - while wadefishing in St. Marks. In twenty years, I have only been attacked once, and it was totally my fault. I only have dicey encounters during mating season or when fishing areas where irresponsible crabbers have conditioned the gators to associate humans with easy food. Stay alert and stay alive.

[zload]

When I heard about the attack I instantly thought of the recent post where someone asked about swimming and Gary's comment about a small child being prey sized for a decent gator.

I've swam and skied in lots of gator infested water usually cypress swamp ringed tannic lakes and never had an issue, my mom reminded me about a trip where we were swimming/sking in Palastine Lake near Olustee when I was a pre-teen. Had a cookout at the ramp and at twilight/dark the same area we had been swimming in an hour or two earlier looked like feeding time at Gatorland.

The parents definitely allowed their child to do something I would have never done with my child, they were either negligent, uninformed or just ignorant but Disney will settle purely for PR reasons, post some Gator signs and people will continue to flock there by the millions. I don't think it would have been nearly the national story it became had the terrorist attack not occured and resultng in all the national media top reporters already on location.

[FUTCHCAIRO]

I HATE TO SPOIL YOUR ILLUSION. MANY OF THE SO CALLED (GATORS) ARE NOT GATORS, THEY ARE CROCKS. I DO NOT KNOW HOW THEY GOT INTO THE USA, I DO KNOW THERE IS ONE OVER IN SEMINOLE LAKE THAT IS ABOUT 20 FT. LONG, HAD A ENCOUNTER WITH HIM ABOUT 4 YRS. AGO, HE TRIED TO BITE THE BOW OF MY BAY BOAT AND DID SCRATCH IT UP PRETTY GOOD. I BELIEVE WHAT HAS HAPPENED IS THE FACT THAT THE GUIDES HAVE ENCOURAGED THE PEOPLE THEY TAKE OUT ON SIGHT SEEING TOURS, TO FEED THE CROKS AND GATORS, THIS IS ABOUT THE WORST THING YOU CAN DO. WE NEED TO HAVE A CLEAN OUT MONTH AND SEE HOW MANY OF THESE WE CAN CLEAN OUT OF OUR COASTAL AND FRESH WATERS. WE CAN GO TOO FAR IN CLEAN OUTS, A GOOD EXAMPLE IS LAKE GRANDIN , JUST WEST OF PALATKA, FLA.AND JUST SOUTH OF GRANDIN, FLA. LAKE GRANDIN USE TO BE ONE OF THE BEST SPECK LAKES IN FLA. SOMEONE HAS TAKEN IT UPON THEMSELVES TO RID LAKE GRANDIN OF ALLLLLLLLLL GATORS. THE RESULT BEING THAT NOW THERE ARE NO GATORS IN LAKE GRANDIN. NOW THE GAR FISH HAVE CLEANED LAKE GRANDIN COMPLETELY OF MOST OF THE SPECKS, AND MOST OF THE BASS. I KNOW WE HAVE HAD A WATER LEVEL PROBLEM IN MOST OF THE LAKES IN FLA. OVER THE LAST 20 YEARS, THERE ARE JUST TOO MANY PEOPLE LIVING IN THE STATE NOW AND INDUSTRY THAT ARE USING MORE WATER THAN THE STATE HAS FOR THEM TO USE. I KNOW YEARS AGO WHEN A GATOR CAME UP INTO THE POPULATED PART OF GRANDIN WE WOULD KILL IT, BACK THEN MOST OF THE GATORS ON LAKE GRANDIN LIVED IN THE SUPPLY CREEK THAT FED WATER INTO LAKE GRANDIN, THIS CREEK FED LAKE GRANDIN FROM ALL OF THE SWISHER PROPERTY UP NORTH AND WEST OF THE LAKE, THE WATER FROM THIS SOURCE HAS DRIED UP, NOT FEEDING WATER INTO THE LAKE AT ALL. THERE IS A ISLAND UP IN THE NORTH END OF THE LAKE NOW, WHERE THIS ISLAND IS USE TO BE ONE OF THE BEST SPOTS TO CATCH SPECKS ALL YEAR LONG. NOW THE LITTLE ISLAND HAS TREES 20 FT. HIGH ON IT. I HAVE NOT FISHED GRANDIN IN OVER 5 YEARS, JUST MAKES ME SICK TO SEE THE LAKE IN THE CONDITION IT IS IN NOW. THERE ARE MANY PLACES YOU CAN NOT EVEN SKII IN, MAINLY DUE TO THE LOW WATER. WE ARE GOING TO HAVE A FAMILY REUION THE 4TH OF JULY DOWN ON THE LAKE, HOPE WE CAN CATCH AT LEAST 1 SPECK AND BASS SO THE GREAT GRAND YOUNGUNS WILL KNOW WHAT ONE LOOKS LIKE.
PA
SEMPER FI

[MudDucker]

Man, when I saw that story of that kid, my heart stopped. I can't think of any worse tragedy. I've swam, boated and skied in that lake. Never saw a gator in it. Now the perimeter canal around Disney is eat up with them. These people were from Nebraska where they have no gators. I think Disney should have had better warnings and I think they will in the future. I expect they will pay this family a big chunk of change and with their current corporate culture, I am all for it.

I have been around gators all my life. As a kid about 14 years old, I started hunting them at night with the guides at the mouth of the Suwanee River. A group of us decided we would be tarzan and we would climb up in a tree that overhung the river and when a smallish gator would come by, we would jump on it and wrestle it to the bank. I did it once and decided after that to just watch. I can tell you, there was no shortage of them then.

Since they have become protected, the population has exploded. We used to shot any gator that would come toward a human being. I had one in my farm pond that was about 4' long that only came out where you could see it when kids would come splashing in the pond. He is no longer with us.

As an adult, the only time I've had gators of any size be aggressive is during mating season. However, I have been to areas where they have been fed and watched them come up looking for handouts. I don't believe in that and when I take Boy Scouts out now, I warn them repeatedly about that. I regularly swim in waters that are filled with gators and sharks. I know the risk, but the chances are small that you will be a victim. I've taught my kids and my scouts, keep your head on a swivel at all times. Vigilance can save your life.

I am very careful with dogs around gators. I saw a pet poodle get eaten in a second by the gator that used to lie by the gift shop at the Okefenokee Swamp Park office.

I don't know that I've ever seen a croc in the wild, but I've seen some gators in Seminole and other places that would go well over 12 feet. A couple of years back, I gave the location of a huge gator in Seminole to a bud who gator hunts and it lead to a new state record a couple of years back. I pulled into a cove and when he swirled out, I got chills and I was in a 16' foot boat.

I think there are WAY too many gator and it is time to open the season even more.

[DixieReb]

Mud Ducker, that sounds a lot like the one that chased us out of his hole. But ours happened about 10-11 years ago. That lake must be full of big ones.

[J Holden]

Do you guys appreciate rednecks now ? When I was younger.... well there was not a problem with them....

I don't mind them. If you aren't stupid, or are a kid with stupid parents, you really have nothing to worry about from gators. And if you are stupid, well, that's natural selection at work.

They have very predictable, set behavior. Anything larger than them they consider a threat, anything smaller is possibly food. They are most active at night, dusk and dawn. They live in pretty much every freshwater habitat in the state and many of the saltwater ones too. If you are smart about how and when you spend your time in their habitat you have nothing to worry about.

[big bend gyrene]

I don't mind them. If you aren't stupid, or are a kid with stupid parents, you really have nothing to worry about from gators. And if you are stupid, well, that's natural selection at work.

Know more than a friend or two who've lost beloved family pets to them... because of their stories I haven't let my own dogs go down to our pond. Yet to harass those that cruise my pond, but do know of other friends with small ponds and dogs who like to swim who say they've had gators die from freak "heat lightning" strikes from time to time.