THE ENTERPRISE (Beaumont, Texas) 21 May 04 Gatored communities (Christine Rappleye)
Pleasure Island: Golfers who lose a ball in the water hazards on the Palms at Pleasure Island golf course better not go looking for it.
Something lives in that water, and it's a little more troublesome than turtles or fish.
Alligators.
"They were here at the old course," said course manager Bryan Jackson, describing how long alligators and golfers have co-habitated on the course.
The Palms opened about a year ago on the footprint of the former Pleasure Island golf course, which was open from 1957 to 1980.
"We don't feed them," Jackson said of the gators, which range from 3 feet to 9.5 feet long.
About 30 of them live in the 11 water hazards on the course, Jackson said, generally keeping to themselves.
"We've had golfers ask if they were decoys" when they come out for a little sun, Jackson said.
Texas Parks and Wildlife officials say that because of the urbanization of bayous, rice fields and other natural alligator habitats, more of the large reptiles are showing up in residential and recreational areas.
About 286,000 alligators live in Jefferson, Orange and Chambers counties, according to information from Texas Parks and Wildlife.
The number of calls about alligators has risen from 280 in 2000 to 422 last year. Half of those calls come from Chambers, Liberty, Brazoria, Fort Bend and Harris counties, according to Texas Parks and Wildlife.
In the last 15 years, there have been 15 reported alligator injuries statewide, but no deaths.
One of the problems is that with the urbanization, new people - who haven't seen or dealt with alligators before - are moving in.
"The natural perception of alligators is to get away," said Amos Cooper, alligator program director with the J.D. Murphee Wildlife Refuge.
Calls come in about alligators daily, Cooper said in a telephone interview.
If an alligator swims up in a nearby pond or body of water, Cooper said to stay away from it, not bother it and not feed it.
"When you feed them, you stimulate them to look at humans as a food source," Cooper said.
The alligators also will lose their fear of humans and become a threat, Cooper said.
New laws make feeding the gators illegal, and disregarding the law will cost anywhere from $25 to $500.
At Sea Rim State Park, a "Do Not Feed the Alligators" sign greets visitors.
In what seems to be an alligator management mantra, assistant park manager Lee Roberts said, "We don't bother them and don't feed them."
"If you see them out there swimming, that's not a threat," Cooper said, although he noted that it's not a good idea for people to try to share the fun.
But if an alligator is charging a person or other animal, that is a threat, Cooper said, which is when the authorities respond.
"Just use common sense," Cooper said.
Alligator movement can be linked to the recent wet weather and the spring mating and nesting season. It's also a time when mother gators cut the apron strings to offspring in the "terrible twos," leaving children three to five feet long to find their own homes.
And the territorial reptiles often show up where people think they shouldn't.
Two ended up in a Drainage District 7 pump station near the seawall, said Phil Kelley, assistant manager.
Some alligators also will turn up in the district's retention ponds, but they don't seem to bother anyone, he reported.
Alligators were in danger of extinction in 1969 and were put on the endangered species list.
But the situation has gotten a lot better since then.
The population rebounded and alligators were removed from the list in 1980. Controlled hunting has been allowed since 1984.
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