ST PETERSBURG TIMES (Florida) 07 August 04 Gator nuisance complaints baffle officials - The wildlife commission can't explain the increasing number of complaints in 2004, though it says urban growth may play a role. (Justin George)
In May, Scott Arnhold tried to detain an 11-foot alligator that was menacing Inverness traffic when the creature slashed his right eyebrow with a claw and clamped down on his left knee with its jaws.
In June, Katie Raml found a 4-foot gator under a pickup in the driveway of her Floral City home after her dachshunds barked up a storm.
In July, gators and humans continued crossing paths in the north central region of Florida, which includes Citrus County - so often that the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission says the number of complaints in 2004 is already approaching the number of complaints last year: 1,238. The surge in complaints for the wildlife commission's north central region, which stretches from Citrus to Duval County, has confounded officials, who have said the mounting numbers can't just be chalked up to waterfront home growth - though that undoubtedly has played a major role.
"The more habitat we destroy, the more gators are going to be running around going: "Where's my house?' " said Karen Parker, spokeswoman for the wildlife commission.
When people call the Citrus County Animal Control with alligator nuisance complaints, they are referred to wildlife commission officials, who can dispatch one of 37 licensed trappers in the state. If an alligator is up to 3 feet long, the animal may be relocated. If it's longer than 4 feet, Parker said, trappers generally kill the animal and sell its hide and meat.
Last year, 435 alligators in the region were killed by trappers.
The north central region of the state generates fewer alligator complaints than southern parts of Florida. Last year, this region's 1,238 complaints were far fewer than the 5,500 complaints from the Lakeland area. But as of June 30, Parker said, the wildlife commission has fielded more than 970 complaints from the north central region. July figures are still being tabulated, but Parker said those numbers appear to be high.
Most of the complaints are coming from urban or developing areas, including Duval and Citrus counties, where the likelihood of people running into the reptiles is higher than in rural areas, Parker said. Citrus has accounted for 116 of the complaints in the 17-county region this year.
"That would be the biggest jump we've had in a while," said Allan Woodward, alligator research biologist for the wildlife commission. "Complaints have increased gradually over the last 30 years since we've been recording these things, and it's been a gradual increment from year to year."
Except this year. The spike could be the result of rising populations of people living in waterfront homes and the alligators, which have seen a resurgence in the last two decades. In 2002, the wildlife commission estimated the state had 1.5-million alligators.
"That creates a situation where you're going to have problem alligators," Woodward said, "or people are going to perceive having alligators out there in the water as a problem."
But Woodward said he isn't convinced that's the reason behind the increase in complaints, since both homes and alligator populations have been increasing in Florida for years.
"Sometimes when you have big water level changes, you'll have big increases in the number of complaints or big decreases in the number of complaints," he said. "But this year, there doesn't seem to be a lot of big droughts or big flooding, so we can't blame it on that. "It may just be an odd year."
Gator nuisance complaints baffle officials