TUSCALOOSA NEWS (Alabama) 19 June 06 Livingston man allows alligator to stay in pond - Pond’s owner did not want officials to kill the alligator (Robert DeWitt)
George Mayfield just didn’t see any reason to kill the alligator that showed up in his pond.
“Being from Louisiana, I don’t have a big problem with alligators," said Mayfield, a former hunting lodge owner who settled on 80 acres in Livingston a couple of years ago. “For a change, I took the side of the animal. I did/snot see any need to go down and blast it."
But the state Division of Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries isn’t prepared to do anything else with a nuisance gator.
“They’ve pretty much filled all of the habitat that’s suitable," said Wildlife Section Chief Gary Moody. “There’s no sense taking one and putting one where there’s a whole bunch more. He won’t stay there."
Alabama will open season on alligators in August for the first time since the 1930s. The state will allow hunters to draw for a limited number of permits to take alligators in the Mobile delta in August. The number of alligators there grew rapidly during the years they were designated a protected species.
In fact, they increased so much that they have moved up the Alabama, Tombigbee and Black Warrior rivers and are considered nuisances in some places.
“We’ve got enough alligators around, and we need to start looking at them in a different way," Moody said. “If we were short on alligators somewhere and had a place that needed relocating, it would be a different matter."
The alligator in Mayfield’s pond, which he estimates is/s8 feet long, showed up in his pond a couple of weeks ago, migrating from a neighbor’s pond.
“It’s about 200 yards through the woods, and it cleaned out his pond of turtles and things and came over to mine," Mayfield said.
While Mayfield wasn’t too concerned about the animal, the alligator’s former landlord had no love for the reptile. The neighbor called local conservation officers to get rid of it.
When the alligator moved to Mayfield’s pond, the conservation officer called Mayfield and asked if the state’s nuisance animal contractor could remove the gator. Mayfield agreed.
Greg Whitis, the contractor for the state, called Mayfield and arranged to come to his property.
“I thought after talking to them that they were going to relocate it," Mayfield said.
But instead of a net, Whitis showed up with a high-powered rifle. When he told Mayfield he planned to shoot the gator, Mayfield withdrew his permission.
“He didn’t come here prepared to do anything but kill it," Mayfield said. “I really didn’t think it was the only option, and I’d like somebody to explain to me why it is the only option. If the alligator had caused problems and it was really too big to handle, I’d understand. But it’s not a 14-footer or something like that."
Whitis, who works for the Alabama Fish Farming Center, said he does try to relocate some alligators.
“I’m a member of the Sierra Club and Audubon Society," Whitis said. “I’d rather relocate animals if I can."
But he draws the line at six feet. Any bigger and the gator presents a liability problem, he said.
“If I were to turn an 8-foot gator loose in the [Black] Warrior River where people are water skiing and swimming and someone were to get hurt by one, it might come back on me," Whitis said.
Once nuisance alligators grow to 6 feet or bigger, he usually shoots them. Since he doesn’t get paid for the work, he usually gives the meat away and sells the hide to recoup his costs.
“I do it as a hobby," he said. “With the prices so low, I’m not making any money. Once you deliver the hide to Louisiana, you’re not making anything."
Whitis received permission to remove alligators, because he works with catfish farmers. Many of them had problems with nuisance alligators.
Mayfield said he finds the law’s attitude toward alligators confusing. While he or any other private citizen is prohibited from shooting an alligator, the state hires a contractor to do exactly that.
“If there is a population problem, let’s find a way to protect them," he said.
Once on the endangered species list, alligators are now listed as threatened by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Heavy concentrations of alligators in Louisiana, Alabama and Florida have allowed those states to resume limited hunting.
Alligators become a threat when they lose their fear of people, Moody said. That often happens when people start feeding them. Alligators come to associate people with food and then think of people as the food, he said.
Mayfield understands that alligators can be dangerous. But he wonders if people are overestimating the danger.
“If you were a 4- or 5-year-old child, or my dog, even, I wouldn’t let you get near the water," Mayfield said. “But I wouldn’t let a kid go down there with a water moccasin either."
Alligators in AlabamA
The number of alligators in the Mobile delta has increased so rapidly since they were named an endangered species in the 1930s that the state in August will allow hunters to draw for a limited number of permits to take alligators.
The alligators have begun moving up the Tombigbee, Alabama and Black Warrior Rivers.
The Division of Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries has filled all suitable habitats.
Once on the endangered species list, alligators are now listed as threatened by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Heavy concentrations of alligators in Louisiana, Alabama and Florida have allowed those states to resume limited hunting.
Alligators become a threat when they lose their fear of people -- often because people feed them and they associated humans with food.
Livingston man allows alligator to stay in pond