**UPDATE - CSR Gator**

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Thanksgiving week 2004, we went to Blue Springs State Park North of Orlando to take a break from the crowds to see if we could spot manatees. Theres a boardwalk trail along the St. Johns river with occasional docks / observation decks over the river. We'd spotted some large purple fish just off one and I was teasing the wife to dangle her fingers down and see of they'd come up like carp. While she was thinking it over, a (3 ft.) gator came out from under the dock right below our feet! That killed ANY thought of sticking anything in the water.

We later saw 2 others about the same size. Wife was warning some people in a canoe and they just laughed....they saw even bigger ones further downriver. Wife was NOT happy to find out the swimming area was in the same river. (A fenced off area.) A park ranger didn't help much when he told her the gators >almost< never came that far upstream
 
If you just want to see Gators, take a drive up to Gainsville. There are plenty of Gators there. All over the place; and all of them are ugly as sin.

Enjoy.
 
Karnak said:
If you just want to see Gators, take a drive up to Gainsville. There are plenty of Gators there. All over the place; and all of them are ugly as sin.
Enjoy.

:rotfl2: :rotfl2: :rotfl2:

I think I see a 'nole..
 
Feralpeg said:
A gator crawled in a dog door of a home here after a dog. The woman shot the gator twice. It didn't do any significant damage to the gator. The authorities took the gator back to the lake near the home and set it free. They then issued a warning citation to the woman for shooting the gator without a license.

That is just one reason I will never have a dog door in Florida!

You have GOT to be kidding. They actually issued her a citation for shooting a deadly animal that was in her home?! :confused3

WOW! I would have put a few more holes in that thing if it ever ended up in my home.
 

A Mickeyfan said:
Actually some can be dangerous if they have been fed by a human. You would not know which has been fed & which hasn't so just figure they have & stay clear away. I live in SW Fl near Sanibel/Captiva. A few years ago a woman was doing some landscaping in her yard where she lived (Sanibel) & a gator came up from behind her & grabbed her. She was rescued but eventually died. She did nothing to that gator, didn't even realize she was near one until it was too late. Last year another guy (landscaper) from Punta Gorda was hot & sweaty from working on someones lawn & jumped into the canal to cool off, a gator got him & killed him. A few years ago in the middle of the state (can't remember the town) there were kids that were swmining in the lake, they swam there all the time. This time they went a dusk (very dangerous time) & a gator ate one of the kids..

The best advise anyone can give on gators is to stay as far away as possible. Do not go in any body of water in Fl unless it says it is safe to swim. If it is not a public place & no signs are up that allow it, do not do it Not only should parents not encourage their children to go looking for one, but should tell them not to & explain why. Gators also seem to like to eat pets.. such as dogs & cats that run near the water banks (at least down where I live). Also for you golfers... if golfing while visiting FL & your ball goes near one (or into the water) do not attempt to get it, just count it as a lost ball. It is not worth the risk. Gators are nothing to take lightly.. the one at CSR seems pretty small compared to some of them.. wonder where it's family is at (on Disney's property) :eek:

i remember hearing about that poor woman, (and i think she actuallydied due to infection from the water but none the less, it's an awful thing. )i think on the science or discovery channels..it's sad but sometimes it's true that people due to overcrowding, feeding etc end up making it necessary to destroy animals..
 
Buckimion said:
Thanksgiving week 2004, we went to Blue Springs State Park North of Orlando to take a break from the crowds to see if we could spot manatees. Theres a boardwalk trail along the St. Johns river with occasional docks / observation decks over the river. We'd spotted some large purple fish just off one and I was teasing the wife to dangle her fingers down and see of they'd come up like carp. While she was thinking it over, a (3 ft.) gator came out from under the dock right below our feet! That killed ANY thought of sticking anything in the water.

We later saw 2 others about the same size. Wife was warning some people in a canoe and they just laughed....they saw even bigger ones further downriver. Wife was NOT happy to find out the swimming area was in the same river. (A fenced off area.) A park ranger didn't help much when he told her the gators >almost< never came that far upstream

BALONY he must have been new ( or less than truthful) cause this is the same place i was talking about ...the gators were literally on the bank next to the swimming area, like they could walk a few steps and get in the area in a flash.. most people were just ignoring them except one mom whose little kids were swimming ...she kept her eyes on them at all times.
and there is a Audubon ( sp?) swamp area in an old plantation near Charleston SC. it is a walk way through a swamp..we saw gator after gator and the path is maybe 2-3 ft wide of 2 ft high of banked earth above the water...if was kind of freaky then but even more so since i heard a police( or someone in authority) saying not to go closer to 10 ft from the bank of a waterway since these incidences in FL. scary stuff
 
Hobbes said:
Aren't you supposed to run in a zig-zag if chased by a gator?
Anyway parents-take your kids to see the gator, remember, you don't have to be able to outrun the gator, so long as you can outrun your kids... :lmao: :lmao:
Stand by with the extinguisher.... :firefight

Thanks for the good laugh!!!! :rotfl2: You can always tell your kids that it's the "croc" that took Captain Hook's hand and if they don't behave they may be next.

We are going in August and staying at the Contemporary. I think it would be kind of cool to see one in the "wild"
 
jann1033 said:
BALONY he must have been new ( or less than truthful) cause this is the same place i was talking about

If he was funning with us, we'd rather not know. :scared1:

Anyways, we'll stick to the pools at the resorts in the future. :crowded:
 
steffali said:
This is me fainting from this whole topic :faint:

:thumbsup2
i was going to say since we don't really have too many large predators here in the north maybe allligators are scarier to me than to those who live near them... theni just hear there has been a black bear prowling around our neighborhood...kind of forgot about them :rotfl: ...at least the alligators don't get in your garbage and now i am wondering what has been getting into my hummingbird / oriole feeders and drinking the entire container in one night...creepy
 
FWIW, if you legally hunt alligators in Florida you are not supposed to use a gun; the approved methods are bow/arrow (with a line) or a baited hook. Honestly, shooting a mature alligator at anything other than point-blank range (by which I mean with the gun actually touching the base of the animal's skull) is usually useless.

It seems that the lady in Bradenton that shot the alligator apparently got the warning about hunting without a permit because she shot it AFTER she shoved it off the lanai and closed the door behind it, because it was trying to get back through the door. Apparently the police felt that at that point, calling them would have been a better idea than ricocheting 4 shots off its hide. http://www.heraldtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060518/COLUMNIST36/605180346

I grew up in S. Louisiana in a small town in the swamps, and my father hunted alligators for their hides. (This was before they became a protected species). One of the things that most of the precautions stories are failing to mention is that alligators in the wild just REEK -- their diet primarily consists of carrion, which they actually prefer over fresh meat. This is one of the reasons why they snatch dogs so often, because dogs just cannot resist investigating that stink. Naturally, the alligators take advantage of the dogs' curiousity. Best to take that as a lesson, and give the ugly things a darn wide berth.
 
NotUrsula said:
FWIW, if you legally hunt alligators in Florida you are not supposed to use a gun; the approved methods are bow/arrow (with a line) or a baited hook. Honestly, shooting a mature alligator at anything other than point-blank range (by which I mean with the gun actually touching the base of the animal's skull) is usually useless.

It seems that the lady in Bradenton that shot the alligator apparently got the warning about hunting without a permit because she shot it AFTER she shoved it off the lanai and closed the door behind it, because it was trying to get back through the door. Apparently the police felt that at that point, calling them would have been a better idea than ricocheting 4 shots off its hide. http://www.heraldtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060518/COLUMNIST36/605180346

I grew up in S. Louisiana in a small town in the swamps, and my father hunted alligators for their hides. (This was before they became a protected species). One of the things that most of the precautions stories are failing to mention is that alligators in the wild just REEK -- their diet primarily consists of carrion, which they actually prefer over fresh meat. This is one of the reasons why they snatch dogs so often, because dogs just cannot resist investigating that stink. Naturally, the alligators take advantage of the dogs' curiousity. Best to take that as a lesson, and give the ugly things a darn wide berth.

Great info and thanks for the link.
 
Please---if you ever see one, regardless of if you think you are in a safe area or not--DO NOT FEED THEM. This only makes the issue worse. They will continue to come closer to human areas, hoping for food, but they are NOT domesticated creatures and will go for you if they think you are the food.
 
rparmfamily said:
Please---if you ever see one, regardless of if you think you are in a safe area or not--DO NOT FEED THEM. This only makes the issue worse. They will continue to come closer to human areas, hoping for food, but they are NOT domesticated creatures and will go for you if they think you are the food.

just to reinforce this point...some guy near us raises wild animals for the skin and urine( not condoning just stating, personally i find this distressing but beside the point) one of his bears got loose( not the first time :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: , broke into a near by house and badly mauled the woman inside..her daughter tried and tried and could not get the bear away from her mom( forget how she finally trapped it and they got out a window and ran for help)...and the reason was,

the bear was used to people and not afraid to go into someone's home...scary!!!

not the same bear from my earlier post btw...i think i'm moving :rotfl2:
 
Here's a picture of one captured in our neighbors yard. He was over 5', so I bet he's a pair of boots.




gator.jpg
 
You have GOT to be kidding. They actually issued her a citation for shooting a deadly animal that was in her home?! :confused3

WOW! I would have put a few more holes in that thing if it ever ended up in my home.

I would have emptied the **** clip. :rolleyes1
 
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