TAMPA TRIBUNE (Tampa Bay, Florida) 21 April 03 Fear Is Good When It Comes To Alligators (Thomas W. Krause)
Tampa: For many years, Gary Morse enjoyed wade fishing in Florida lakes. In that time, he ran into more than one local who wasn't pleased with his being there.
``The number of large alligators I've stepped on I can't count on all my fingers and toes,'' he said.
Fortunately, Morse still has all his fingers and toes.
``That just goes to show you how afraid of people they are,'' he said.
Morse, who now works as a spokesman for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, said that even though alligators are people-shy, humans must not get close to Florida's famous toothy reptiles. They are dangerous, and it is illegal to disturb them.
Nowadays, alligator encounters might be more dangerous than when the state had a smaller human population, Morse said. As more people move into former wildlife areas, encounters between alligators and people have increased. That means alligators have a greater chance of losing their fear of people.
When alligators aren't afraid of people, they become more likely to attack, Morse said.
Not all alligators are considered a nuisance.
If an alligator is sunning itself on a shoreline or swimming in a lake or river, leave it alone, Morse said. It's just doing what alligators do.
If an alligator is posing a threat to public safety - acting aggressively toward humans or pets - the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission should be called.
Aggressive alligators are captured and destroyed by licensed trappers. Their meat and hides are sold.
In the past, some alligators were relocated. That is no longer a viable option, Morse said. A nuisance alligator has lost its fear of humans. Moving it is not going to help that.
The state has about 1.5 million alligators living among 16 million people. The environment is supporting all the alligators it can handle, Morse said. Moving an alligator to another location means it will have to fight with other alligators for food and space. Moving animals also is dangerous to humans, costly and has the potential to spread disease.
The regional office for the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission gets about 5,000 nuisance alligator calls each year. During spring and summer, when warmer weather makes the cold-blooded animals more active, it can get as many as 100 calls a day.
Last year, the commission harvested more than 6,700 nuisance alligators statewide.
Although alligators are dangerous, they can coexist with people, Morse said. Since 1948, there have been 330 documented alligator attacks in Florida. Of those, only 13 resulted in a human death.
Morse's tips to avoid increasing those numbers:
* Leave alligators alone.
* Do not feed alligators or any other wildlife. Alligators that see ducks and other wild birds congregating near humans will associate humans with food and are more likely to lose their fear of humans.
* Don't let children or pets walk near shorelines at dusk and dawn, when alligators are most likely to feed.
To report a nuisance alligator longer than 4 feet, call the commission at 1-888-404-3922.
Fear Is Good When It Comes To Alligators