Yesterday a neighbor let his family lab out to do its normal thing in the back yard, their yard backs up to a pond on the golf course, it's a decent sized pond but not massive.

No word on where the attack actually happened but if the dog was close to the water the gator grabbed it, killed it most likely drowned it and drug it out into the pond where it was left floating which is something gators do to kills.

The local police came over and they brought in a trapper who worked late last night and finally caught it this morning.

Over the past 20 years we've pulled one other gator out of the pond, this is about the same size as that one 10 ft 7 in.

There is a very large lake on the St Johns called Lake Jessup near us. Lake Jessup is one of the most heavily infested gator lakes in Florida. During the construction phases of Disney they trucked captured gators out, many of them were relocated to this lake, at the time Lake Jessup was way out in the country.

Most likely this gator came from that Lake, moving up Bear creek, gators do travel from lake to lake/pond. No telling how long it was there, maybe just recently with the rains as we had no reports of it being seen in the lake.

Car batteries are about 10 inches long so that lends a bit of perspective to its size

Looks like it was good and healthy so that pond was providing it plenty to eat unless it was a recent transplant.

Sure doesn't look anything close to 10 and a half feet but what do I know.

Don't they usually relocate trapped gators rather than kill them?

Choot 'em!

quote:

Originally posted by ChicagoSigMan:
Don't they usually relocate trapped gators rather than kill them?

It killed a dog.

quote:

Originally posted by ChicagoSigMan:
Don't they usually relocate trapped gators rather than kill them?

Most alligators under four feet long are relocated; those that are larger are humanely killed. April and May are the months in which gators are more aggressive as it's mating season.

In this case it killed a pet and it was in the middle of a large residential area with plenty of ponds, most likely it was or would be moving between ponds and killing pets, the family has two children 6 and 4 years old, the 6 year old saw it happen.

FYI The meat and hides from trapped gators make big money....

we were touring the okeefenokee (sp?) swamp one year on vacation. Parked and went out on walk along a boardwalk through part of the swamp. Came back and there was a lady crying and some security or wildlife types talking to her. There was a leash attached to the handle of her car. She had tied the dog off to the car door and then gone away for a while. Came back to nothing but the end of a leash....

Stupid.

Gators have made a sufficient comeback IMO, and their protection should be limited to State, Federal, and other wilderness enclaves. Those found in the urban interface need not be relocated. They should be digested.

For the most part, out where I live, they are.

If they run away when people approach, they are allowed to survive. If they don't, they are dispatched.

quote:

Originally posted by ArtieS:
For the most part, out where I live, they are.

If they run away when people approach, they are allowed to survive. If they don't, they are dispatched.

I was thinking about your pond when I saw this thread. Remembering how your dog took a cooling dip on his way back to the house.

Gators make for tasty eating.

Cut into porklet size slices and fried (as a kid we didn't have a bar-b-q grill or even a propane) we ate gator a lot.

Plus, they don't automatically attack (unless it's a female on a nest or with recent hatchlings - then they will attack, now, no waiting) otherwise they're pretty laid back.

I've been in the water with them many a time without being attacked.

reminds me of the visitors to Death Valley in CA.

the snow birds come to visit in the winter months, and despite all the signs warnings and speech's from the park rangers , they still let there lap dogs out to roam , meander and wander about, unattended.

So eventually someone put up a 4 ft. x 8 ft. sign that read,
Coyotes 6,
dogs 0,
cats 0.

A bunch of junior high kids caught and hog tied an 11 foot gator they discovered in a dry drainage ditch behind their subdivision in the middle of Conroe, Tx.

I better tell the wife about this. Might need to go out and buy a gun specifically for gators in case an invasion is coming...

quote:

Originally posted by Edmond:
I better tell the wife about this. Might need to go out and buy a gun specifically for gators in case an invasion is coming...

That’s some good thinking right there!

quote:

Originally posted by coloradohunter44:

quote:

Originally posted by Edmond:
I better tell the wife about this. Might need to go out and buy a gun specifically for gators in case an invasion is coming...

That’s some good thinking right there!

don't forget two is one one is none.

I used to visit Sanibel Island where some friends lived in a condo complex with a pool. I went down to the pool one day to take a dip only to discover a gator asleep on the side of the pool. Two elderly German ladies were in the pool and I pointed out the gator to them. They were not concerned. I was! I called the cops. They asked me to go measure it. Which I did, but with great trepidation. It was a little over 5 feet long. When I called the cops back with my measurement, they declined to come out. They told me they would not move a gator unless he was 6 feet long. The eastern side of Sanibel is the Ding Darling NWR, which was loaded with gators. Who were eating a fair share of tourist dogs.
Needless to say, I was on full gator alert when waking the condo grounds!

How times have changed. Having grown up in Central Florida, and having spent a huge portion of my youth at my grandparent's house on a lake, I can remember my grandfather taking his old single shot shotgun and shooting gators several times when they showed up near their home. I still have a vivid memory of grandpa wading out into the lake and hauling a six foot gator out tail first. Today, he'd have all kinds of wildlife organizations and government agencies crawling all over him.

There's a gator in the bushes, he's calling my name...

Anyone need a pair of boots?