Gators

[cleo]

Your yummy gator tails are 'farm raised', not wild.

 

[brerrabbit]

My yummy gator tail comes from wild ones. Even though the Alligator was on the endangered species list for a while and still is on a watch, in some areas people are literally up to their a**** in gators. Here in Texas you can enter a lottery for permits to hunt alligators during certain times of the year. A good friend of mine applies every year and has been choosen most years. It's not really gator hunting as much as it is gator fishing. You have to use a hook and line to take them. Otherwise if you just shoot them they often sink and you can't find him. I go "hunting" with him and help him take the gator and then wind up helping him skin it out. In return he gives me five or six pounds of meat. He on the other hand gets to sell the hide which usually gets hin $25 to $30 a foot. Two years ago we took one that was 10 feet. Thats the biggest one we have ever got. The wild meat tends to be a little more fishy tasting that the farm raised meat you get in resturants and that relates directly to their diet in the wild vs in captivity.

Around here they are turning up everywhere because of so much development. We are taking their habitat so they are starting to show up in ours. Right now we have one living under a bridge on I-10

The Link http://www.khou.com/topstories/stories/khou051012_mh_gator.e9dcd1a4.html

 

[cruiseonmagic]

Actually, it's illegal to make them into a bag, shoes, etc. They get moved to a safer location for guests and the gator.

I was being sarcastic about the bags and shoes part. I probably should have said "if the gator is unfortunate enough to have a human feed it, it will be "harvested' ".
This is from local6.com-- the website from one of our local tv stations.

Alligator Bites Woman Trying To Feed It By Hand

A 25-year-old woman in Melbourne, Fla., was treated at a hospital Thursday after an alligator jumped out of the water and bit her hand as she tried to feed it by hand, according to a Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission news release.

The 3-foot alligator bit Danielle Rivera, of Palm Bay, Fla., Thursday afternoon at Crane's Creek in downtown Melbourne.

Rivera told a FWC investigator that she was trying to feed an alligator when it bit her hand instead of the food. She said she did not realize it could propel itself out of the water.

"This is a classic example of why it is against the law to feed alligators in Florida," said Joy Hill, public information coordinator for the FWC's Northeast Region. "The good news is that Ms. Rivera was treated and released from the hospital within a couple of hours of the incident. If the alligator had been a couple of feet larger, this story may have had a much different ending. Another reason people shouldn’t feed alligators is that feeding them is about the same as signing their death warrant."

An officer issued Rivera a written warning for violating Florida’s law that prohibits feeding wild alligators. Rivera could have been charged with a second-degree misdemeanor, but the officer felt she learned her lesson about feeding alligators the hard way and she likely won’t do it again.

"Our goal is to get people to comply with the law," said Lt. Rick Brown. "We make an effort to take a minimal amount of law enforcement action to achieve that goal."

The alligator was captured and will be harvested, Local 6 News reported.

 

[jann1033]

is that why river contry really closed? i thought you used to ( long ago) be allowed to swim in th fw lake ( same time as River country was around) and someone else remembered it also but did wonder about gators..

someone also posted many fl fresh water areas have a very harmful bacteria hence the "no swimming allowed"

 

[TnTsParty]

i
someone also posted many fl fresh water areas have a very harmful bacteria hence the "no swimming allowed"

Yes Florida waters have a microscopic bacteria called an amoeba - if swallowed it can cause illness. I am not sure if all Florida waters have it but I know the ones around me do!!

 

[kerrynic78]

We have a gator in the pond near our house. Some teens were throwing sticks at it so it has become agressive and now has to be killed, I think that is so sad, although I understand it is for our safety.

 

[MrsNick]

is that why river contry really closed? i thought you used to ( long ago) be allowed to swim in th fw lake ( same time as River country was around) and someone else remembered it also but did wonder about gators..

someone also posted many fl fresh water areas have a very harmful bacteria hence the "no swimming allowed"

I was going to ask the same thing about River Country Yikes! I'm guessing that's why people used to be allowed to swim in the lake by the Contemporary, but not anymore?

 

[GoofyDad869]

I saw a small two-foot (or so) gator in the Magic Kingdom Liberty Square waterway. He was at the base of one of the posts for that little dockside walkway, about 200 yards from the front of the riverboat landing. I told a cast member about it, pointed it out to her. She promptly got on her walkie-talkie. This was waaay back in 2002.

 

[TnTsParty]

I was going to ask the same thing about River Country Yikes! I'm guessing that's why people used to be allowed to swim in the lake by the Contemporary, but not anymore?

Actually its not because of the gators (at least I don't think so) its due to bacteria in the water - if ingested it will make you really sick to your stomach and may last for a while.

 

[skiwee1]

At the Poly last week we were lounging in chairs on the beach when another family came along. One kid asked the mom if he could swim in the lake. Dad says "no, the sign says no swimmimg." The mom pipes in "Go ahead. It isn't like there are alligators in there"". As she said this she looked over at us and laughed. I told her there were indeed alligators in there as I've seen them before. I saw one sunbathing on the beach a few years back. She got really nasty and said she has been coming to the Poly for years and didn't believe that for a minute. I laughed and told her to let her kids swim. Afterall the one I saw was only about 4 ft long and wouldn't eat much. Needless to say she took her kids and left. What a moron. Doesn't Do Not Swim signs mean anything?

 

[Lulu's Mom]

We say a gator in the river at MK last Nov.....

 

[Ted and Holly]

And those amoebas are nothing to worry about either.

 

[sodaseller]

No worry - Gators are harmless this year, unfortunately, at least since Bubba Caldwell went down