Reptile & Amphibian Forums

There is a lot of legal red tape with the story I am about to tell you -- and wrongs committed on both sides. What I want to know is whether or not this situation be resolved without further killing any alligators.

I live in a small community in South Georgia. There is a man in my community that has been raising alligators since 1963. He has a large pond, and for whatever reason, he started keeping 'gators in the pond. He says he bought about 6 or 8 alligators from Florida in the '60's, and these alligators formed the breeding stock for the 200 or more alligators he currently has.

He says the real trouble began in 1983, when he fenced in the pond and several surrounding acres. He basically created an unlicensed alligator farm. If I understand the story correctly, this is when he found himself at odds with the State of Georgia. To my knowledge, he never sold nor killed the 'gators. He just kept them, and they reproduced regularly.

I went out to his place when I was in college, and the place was teeming with alligators. Some of them were enormous. And many of them are also dog tame.

Long story short, fast forward to this week. The State of Georgia showed up on this man's property and began confiscating the alligators. The owner had the animals sold to a man in Louisana, but the state wouldn't authorize the sale. These alligators are being captured and hauled off. An individual has agreed to buy the animals. He's going to turn around and sell them to the highest bidder. I can only assume that these alligators will be sold and butchered. I hope I'm wrong, but I fear that I am not.

Some of these alligators are over 40 years old and have been in this pond their whole lives.

Our local sheriff has been to Atlanta met with the governor. Our local state representative is also working to stop the state's actions until a more suitable resolution can be met. But as of Wednesday, wildlife officers were still capturing the alligators. I understand that the owner of the property has not fully complied with state regulations. But what the state is doing is not right, either.

So my question to the forum is, do any of you have any connections with anyone who might could help with this situation? Maybe a sanctuary or preserve that could use proven breeding domesticated alligators. It's a long shot, I know, but these alligators are very likely being needlessly killed.

RP
rnhpreston@alltel.net

Well,

I can't see all of them being slaughtered necessarily. I would have to assume that these gators would be distributed to random sanctuaries and whatnot that holds these animals. The major problem is that this gentlemen was obviously outside the law, as where Georgia does not allow the keeping of any animals that are considered dangerous. If they are slaughtering the animals, I donot feel that it is right, but unfortunately that is human nature for you. But federally as far as I know, alligators are protected. So I am not totally sure that they would just allow the removal and slaughtering of the animals. Although keepers who keep these animals and then turn around and take them to zoo's, parks, and rescues often get euthenized because there is no places for them. It is sad the way nature works at times, but that is just the way it is.

Chris

WALB (Albany, Georgia) 10 November 04 DNR seizes hundreds of alligators
Atkinson County: It takes nearly a dozen men to capture and wrestle just one 800 pound alligator from Winston Wright's forty acre pond, reptiles the Department of Natural Resources says he's been illegally raising for decades.
"He had a license to farm some alligators a number of years ago, but did not meet the requirements to continue that license," says Department of Natural Resources Public Affairs Coordinator Lisa Doty.
Doty says Wright illegally fenced in wild alligators that were on his Atkinson County property.
"That was kind of taking illegal possession of wildlife, and at the same time he had bought some farmed alligators," she explains.
Those farm-raised alligators are mixed with the wild ones, making it impossible to tell the massive reptiles apart, but Wright and his son say a former DNR official gave them permission to co-mingle them.
"He said if you'll go to Florida and buy some gators which are raised on a farm that's got numbers, he said, gators will be gators anticipating what's in this pond is yours as well as what you bought," says Wright's son, Kevin Wright.
After several attempts dating back to 1988, DNR and Wright reached an agreement. According to this consent form signed by both parties, Wright was to negotiate a price or remove all of the alligators from his property by October 21st, or he would voluntarily permit officers to sell and take them away.
But, Wright claims in a meeting last March, Governor Sonny Perdue extended that deadline.
"The governor said if he needs more time, time is not the problem. He'll get more time," says Winston Wright.
He says it was a verbal agreement, an agreement the DNR says they have no knowledge of.
"That's over 40 years of my daddy's life that's basically going down the drain," says Wright's son.
Now because they've been co-mingled all the alligators will be carted off Wright's property including those he purchased years ago.
DNR officials say removal of the alligators could take anywhere from three days to a week. The alligators will be transported to a buyer in Florida who bid on the purchase of the reptiles.
DNR seizes hundreds of alligators

This is indeed the incident that I'm speaking of. I spoke with Mr. Winston on the phone Wednesday, and then I spoke with our local state representative about this matter. Unfortunately, at least as far as I know, the animals are still being confiscated.

RP

The responsibility for this incident lay solely on the keeper. The evasion of laws all those years was entirely his fault. Too often, these days, people try to transfer responsibility when they cannot endure the heat or their errors, or the weight of reality.
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Israel Dupont
Winter Haven, FL

I am fairly familiar with Georgia's regulations on keeping dangerous reptiles. I have owned quite a few boas and pythons over the years, currently keep two large Burmese and have dabbled with a variety of venomous snakes as well. It's interesting how people think, and how they rationalize their behavior. Apparently, Mr. Wright did not actually think that the state would come and haul off the gators. He thought he would be able to get rid of the alligators on his own. However, the state thought otherwise.

I know that he is in violation of the law. And he must ultimately accept the responsibility for his actions (which he probably won't do). I was just grasping for straws, hoping that maybe someone could offer some help in placing these animals in a sanctuary of some kind. Our state representative might be able to get through to someone to stop hauling off the alligators if we could make other arrangements. At the moment, there are no further arrangements. So the alligators are being removed from the property.

RP