CITRUS COUNTY CHRONICLE (Crystal River, Florida) 09 July 07 Feeding alligators dangerous (Dave Pieklik)
The search for an alligator in Inverness with an arrow in its snout has city and conservation officials urging people to leave the reptiles alone.
A trapper licensed through the state’s Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission has unsuccessfully tried for weeks to capture the gator, estimated to be about 7 feet long. Inverness Parks and Recreation Director Pati Smith said the alligator has been spotted off the pier at Wallace Brooks Park.
However, the issue extends deeper than that for Smith and others. People are apparently feeding them while standing on the pier. There’s concern that could lead to an attack.
“In his professional opinion,” she said of the trapper, “the alligators are not a threat to anyone, but they’re becoming complacent because people are feeding them.”
Smith said sheriff’s deputies have seen people feeding alligators congregating off the pier in Lake Henderson. She said the FWC has talked with people to educate them about the importance of not doing this.
“They’re concerned because of the behavior of people, someone could get hurt,” she said.
According to information from the FWC, there have been 275 unprovoked alligator attacks on humans since 1948, with at least 17 deaths. Spokeswoman Karen Parker said normally, alligators are just as scared of people as people are of them.
However, when people feed them, alligators lose their fear of people and get more aggressive. They could look at people as “a ham sandwich,” she said, if people are equated with food.
Parker said even small alligators can be dangerous, and that they can jump pretty well.
Said Smith, “You do not feed wild animals because they expect to be fed, and if they don’t get fed, they’re going to look for food.”
If someone is lucky enough to not lose a limb after being bitten by a gator, Parker said there’s still risk of bacterial infection. Not only is it dangerous to feed an alligator, it’s also illegal.
Because alligators are considered a “species of special concern,” Parker said it’s a second-degree misdemeanor to feed, harass or capture alligators, which is punishable by up to 60 days in jail and a $500 fine.
With drought causing lower water levels, encounters between alligators and humans likely will increase, she said, as the reptiles go in search of water sources where food is. Parker says alligators are an important part of the ecology of the wetlands, and should be left alone.
They make alligator holes — or dens — that fill up with water, she said, and are often the last places to dry up. Other creatures, such as frogs and turtles, depend on these areas for food and shelter; no gator holes could mean no more wildlife there.
Added Parker, “If we keep messing with the gators, we’re going to end up messing with ourselves.”
Feeding alligators dangerous