Any alligator sightings at BCV lately?

[Melrosgirl]

Is Al E. Gator still around there? I was there last week and didn't see him.

 

[CharlesTD]

Good question we are going down in 15 days and want to take the kids over to show them. Does anyone know of any at any of the other DVC resorts?

 

[kathleena]

There were no gators around when we looked Mar 4-11!

 

[Pinnie]

We didn't see our favorite gator in the canal at the BCVs when we were down there over Easter.

pinnie

 

[Happy Birthday Cat]

We were there in mid April and made a point of looking often. We saw a very nice turtle but no gator.

HBC

 

[Poohy]

We were at BCV from June 16-June 24. We saw the alligator at least four times while we were there. Some other people said that there were now 2 alligators in the canal but we only saw one.

 

[Pinnie]

We saw the gator June 21, 22. There were a bunch of us checking him/her out!

pinnie

 

[kathrynmtague]

I've heard rumors since I was a kid about gators, but never saw any. Do you mean the canal that the boat goes through connecting EPCOT to BC/YC/BWV? We're going down in December and I'd love to look for him! Thanks!

 

[castleri]

The alligator(s) is/are in the canal that borders the parking lot by the Beach Club Villas and goes under the villas at some point. We have seen him/her out on the bank nearest the parking lot taking a sunbath a couple of times. I thought they had removed the larger one a year or so ago. I think they have to be a certain size before they can be moved out to some other less populated area from what one of the security people told us.

 

[d-r]

The canal by the bcv is a firebreak canal that goes through the epcot parking lot and circles all of epcot, so there is a lot of space that a gator could be in if he isn't right there at the villas.

 

[SWVA BGSU Fan]

We were there June 11-18 and we saw a small gator once. We looked often but that was the only sighting this trip.

We've seen one at MK before. It was lake leading to Tom Sawyer's Island, just beyond Splash Mountain.

 

[Suzi Q]

We have looked for Mr. Gator many times when we have been to BCV, but have never been able to spot him.

 

[BillPA]

The gator was there last week (July 2-9), it is about 6 feet long.

 

[ryley26]

We saw him last summer and we also saw them take one away last summer also. So maybe they are trying to get the large ones out of the canal. I bet for everyone you see there are at least three you don't.

 

[BrianBWV]

This was taken by my wife on the bridge between the self-parking lot and the quiet pool at BCV last Wednesday. It was unfortunate to see that the four other guests on the bridge did not leave until they had emptied their bag of chips into the water by the alligator's mouth. While at the airport on Saturday, we read an article in the Orlando Sentinel telling how this type of feeding amounts to a death sentence for most alligators in Florida, stemming from the problems that arise when the gators associate humans with feeding time.

 

[BrianBWV]

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/state/orl-gators1506jul15,0,4898139.story

 

[manning]

It would be nice to see a wildlife enforcement officer there. The law says don't feed the gators and the penalty is a second-degree misdemeanor punishable with a fine and up to 60 days in jail.

I was watching it one day when a man and his daughter came out and fed it.
Someone told him it was a Florida law not to feed them. He looked at the person and said "Good thing it's a Florida law. I'm from New York therefore it doesn't apply to me"

Boy, what I would have given for a badge and handcuffs that day.

 

[JimMIA]

It would be nice to see a wildlife enforcement officer there. The law says don't feed the gators and the penalty is a second-degree misdemeanor punishable with a fine and up to 60 days in jail.

I was watching it one day when a man and his daughter came out and fed it.
Someone told him it was a Florida law not to feed them. He looked at the person and said "Good thing it's a Florida law. I'm from New York therefore it doesn't apply to me"

As a matter of law, of course, Florida law certainly does apply to people from New York, and is usually more enthusiastically enforced with people with those kinds of attitudes. Folks like that have tough lives. Even if that weren't the case, the American Alligator is also protected under the U.S. Endangered Species Act because of its similarity of appearance to the endangered American Crocodile.

Realistically, you're not likely to see any law enforcement at WDW, other than some occasional traffic enforcement. And noone is going to station an officer to babysit one or two alligators.

Being stupid around wild animals is really more of a natural selection issue than a legal issue. Mother Nature is the best enforcer. Eventually, the gentleman's attitude will get the best of him and Mom will tidy up the gene pool. She usually uses other humans, not wildlife, to do that.

Unfortunately, that won't help the alligator. Feeding is a death sentence for any wild animal roughly 100% of the time. The idea of "relocation" is just a cover story for what really happens. Often, there is not even any attempt to relocate the animal, and when there is, they are usually killed almost immediately by other animals in their new habitat. About the only time relocation works with wildlife is when they are reintroduced to a part of their former range, and even that is a very low-percentage endeavor.

Incidentally, with regard to the picture of the alligator, I don't know how high the bridge was or how deep the water is, but it's not out of the realm of possibility for the alligator to jump as high as the bridge looks in that picture. They pick birds off low branches sometimes.

 

[bobbiwoz]

I have seen a snake on each of my last 2 visits to BCV (in May and June). One of them was on the way to Epcot, along the path, and the other was on the way to the parking lot. I've looked for the crocodile, but haven't seen it in the creek, we have seen lots of large turtles.

Disney has recently taken out the "food for ducks" machines with the excuse that it's not natural to feed the wildlife. I wonder if the presence of alligators contributed to the decision. I do feed birds at home, and have been known to toss some bread/grains to ducks at WDW. I hope I'm not adding to the problem there. I'll have to think about this a bit. I never would intentionally feed a bear, deer or crocodile or animals like that.

Bobbi

 

[castleri]

As a matter of law, of course, Florida law certainly does apply to people from New York, and is usually more enthusiastically enforced with people with those kinds of attitudes. Folks like that have tough lives. Even if that weren't the case, the American Alligator is also protected under the U.S. Endangered Species Act because of its similarity of appearance to the endangered American Crocodile.

Realistically, you're not likely to see any law enforcement at WDW, other than some occasional traffic enforcement. And noone is going to station an officer to babysit one or two alligators.

s.

Actually one of the times we were there a security person was there telling people that they were not to feed the alligator and that there was a $500 fine if they are caught doing so. I doubt he had any authority to back it up but he was at least trying to do something about it.