Gator Warning

[Sammie]

A local Florida resident has died due to being attacked by an alligator on Sanibel Island.

There are numerous places on Disney property where alligators have been seen including the golf courses, Liberty Square, and the Beach Club villas.

Please do not feed them. This causes them to lose their fear of humans and makes them more dangerous than they are naturally. It is also against the law to the feed them.

For more info on the discussion of Gators here is a link to the discussion on the DVC forum.

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=610183&perpage=15&pagenumber=1

 

[webray]

When living in FL..you come to learn..every body of water has an alligator in it..man made or not..alligators are there.

 

[peter1706]

I learned this the scary way....i was staying at a family members house that had a man made lake in the backyard.

The alligator walked up to the back door

 

[FroggyinArk]

Please remember that aligators are not limited to fla either We have our fair share over in arkansas, they are in all the southern states, and are no less dangerous here or in la or in miss or alabama,,

 

[GEM]

Hey, Froggy -

Do we really have alligators here in Arkansas? I mean, obviously we don't have them up here in the Ozarks where we are, and I had no idea that we had them down there where you are! I've never heard anything about it. How interesting!

 

[Pop Daddy]

even if I lived in Fla, I just dont think Im gonna die by being ate by an Alligator, thats alot of eating

 

[Dan Murphy]

Originally posted by GEM
....Do we really have alligators here in Arkansas?....

AK gators, GEM

 

[MJames41]

Originally posted by GEM
Hey, Froggy -

Do we really have alligators here in Arkansas? I mean, obviously we don't have them up here in the Ozarks where we are, and I had no idea that we had them down there where you are! I've never heard anything about it. How interesting!

Every once in a while you might have some Gator's over on a Saturday in the fall...

 

[Saffron]

Dan! That is such a cool site! You're never too old to learn something and today I learned what Darter Leopards, Fatmuckets, Fat Pocketbooks and Pearlymussels are and I learned that alligators live in Arkansas! I never would have guessed that in a million years! Not that I think Froggy is imagining things LOL!, it's just that I don't think of Arkansas as gator country! Amazing! And scary!

Thanks for posting that link Dan! That is interesting reading!

 

[tiff13]

ok...don't laugh but are there alot of gators say on the beaches of St Petes and Clearwater? Up here in the upper midwest we usually don't have a need to know this! But we're taking a break from Disney for a couple of days and going to the gulf.

 

[Saffron]

Alligators are fresh water animals, so I don't think you'll find them on the Gulf of Mexico beaches ... they stick to lakes, ponds, rivers, back yard swimming pools , swamps etc. There are rare salt water crocodiles in Florida though , but I don't think you'll encounter them. I think they live where the fresh and salt water tributaries meet on the Atlantic side of Florida. Someone from Florida can probably fill you in better than I can. I'm just going by memory from bits and pieces of trivia I read here and there. I also think there are rare salt water alligators, but I could just have them confused with the salt water crocs. Or maybe they're salt water alligators and I'm confused and think they're crocs. Maybe I oughta go do some research and get my facts straight.

Now on the other hand, sharks in the Gulf ... LOL!

Alligators, crocodiles and sharks. My nightmares.

 

[Pugdog007]

Originally posted by FroggyinArk
Please remember that aligators are not limited to fla either We have our fair share over in arkansas, they are in all the southern states, and are no less dangerous here or in la or in miss or alabama,,

We don't have alligators in AL... unless of course you go to the zoo.

 

[arminnie]

Originally posted by Dan Murphy
AK gators, GEM

Dan - AK is Alaska. Arkansas is AR.

People always get the A states mixed up. Most people think AR is Arizona (AZ).

Maine, Michigan, Mississippi and Minnesota also have the same problem with people keeping the abbreviations straight.

Tricia

 

[FroggyinArk]

we have gator sitings aeround here all the time, we have even had one spotted in the creeek that runs 100 ft behind ourr house, granted they arent as numerous asa they used to be, but we get em. all the southern states do, even if you think your st ate doesntr have them i bet if you are in the south and h ave water,, you got em.,.,.lol heres a link to a few of arkansas more famous gators

http://www.hotspringsusa.com/gatorfarm

 

[FroggyinArk]

Originally posted by Pugdog007
We don't have alligators in AL... unless of course you go to the zoo.

see link below. Aligators in alabama.
http://www.geocities.com/mlw1139/aligator.html

 

[FroggyinArk]

Originally posted by MJames41
Every once in a while you might have some Gator's over on a Saturday in the fall...

but those gators tend to stick to t he ozarks

 

[Talking Hands]

Originally posted by Saffron
Alligators are fresh water animals, so I don't think you'll find them on the Gulf of Mexico beaches ... they stick to lakes, ponds, rivers, back yard swimming pools , swamps etc. There are rare salt water crocodiles in Florida though , but I don't think you'll encounter them. I think they live where the fresh and salt water tributaries meet on the Atlantic side of Florida. Someone from Florida can probably fill you in better than I can. I'm just going by memory from bits and pieces of trivia I read here and there. I also think there are rare salt water alligators, but I could just have them confused with the salt water crocs. Or maybe they're salt water alligators and I'm confused and think they're crocs. Maybe I oughta go do some research and get my facts straight.

Now on the other hand, sharks in the Gulf ... LOL!

Alligators, crocodiles and sharks. My nightmares.

Salt water crocs and they are no longer so rare. Range is up to the Lower part of Miami-Dade County around Matheson Hammock near Fairchild Gardens. I can encounter crocs, alligators, snakes and other types of critters with less than 10 miles of my house. Fortunately I do not live on water of any kind so I probably won't find a croc or a gator in my yard. TG!
You will not find the crocs in WDW area as they are salt water not fresh. Alligators are anywhere.

 

[lightningcoach]

Alligator attacks are rare, but it's never wise to get near to a gator. Teh dumbest thing opur family ever saw was a group of Japanese tourist telling there children to go up to a gator that was sunning itself near the side of the road. They wanted a good picture. My parents have gators in their backyard and in our old house we had ones that would swim through the drainage ditches and hang out in the retention pond. A great place to visit in Florida is Myakka State Park. You take an airboat ride and see all hundreds of gators sunning themselves and sometimes feeding. It's pretty cool.

It's awful the woman died. It was actually not from the mauling, but from the infection that came from the bites. It's such a horrible thing.

 

[Saffron]

Thanks Talking Hands! I did some searching earlier and founds lots of info on alligators and crocodiles. I found out the area you are talking about, the place just south of Miami is right now the only place in Florida where crocodiles and alligators mix. They live in the brachish water there, so even alligators can tolerate some salt water. They said at last count 34 crocodile nests were found in the area, a lot of them near a nuclear plant there. That's kinda scary ... nuclear waste and crocodiles ... can you imagine what that might make! LOL!

The article also said the fourth tooth on the crocodiles stick out when their mouths are closed, alligators show no teeth when their mouths are closed. Florida is also the only place in America that has the crocs and only in that little area and they only live in salt water as you stated. It was interesting reading. Scary if you have a phobia of them like I do. Now I'll be looking for them everywhere.

So you're safe tiff13 unless you go where the salt and fresh water mix on the Atlantic coast of Florida, near Miami. LOL!
No alligators in the salt water of the Gulf.

 

[marydmjj]

YIKES! We are going to WDW in October and I just got done assuring my DS that there aren't any alligators on Disney property. Bad assumption I guess! Are there any alligators in the bay in front of Caribbean Beach? Should I be worried when we are at the beach area of the resort?