HOUSTON CHRONICLE (Texas) 13 January 05 Residents of condo want gator to go away (Renee C. Lee)
Montgomery: A 6-foot-long alligator has made a drainage tunnel at a condominium complex his temporary hibernation hangout, but concerned residents want him to move out.
Residents notified the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department over the weekend when the alligator was first spotted at the April Sound Country Club condos near Lake Conroe.
"We'd like to see it moved and relocated," resident Paul Shouse said Wednesday. ''It is on the wrong side of the lake. It needs to be on the north end of the lake where there's more of a natural habitat."
Capt. Fred Churchill, who oversees Montgomery County for the state agency, says the reptile is harmless.
"He has crawled up and found a nice warm, dry place," Churchill said. "Alligators hibernate in the winter. They may eat once or twice a week. There's not much activity.
"Alligators are all over Lake Conroe. He's posing no danger to humans at all."
Game wardens have been monitoring the alligator daily to make sure he is not sick or injured, and only then will they take appropriate action to remove him, Churchill said.
Shouse, the father of a 6-year-old boy, said he and other residents think more should be done to rouse the alligator.
''We're not overly thrilled with the way they've decided to handle it," he said. "They told us the best thing to do is to keep our nose out of the hole, and if anybody did mess with it, it was a punishable criminal act. That's the way they left it."
The alligator is 6 feet underground, and there is a steel grate over the drainage opening, which has since been welded for additional security.
Weak legs make it impossible for the reptile to crawl up the cement tunnel, and it takes plenty of muscle to push or pull open the steel grate, Churchill said.
Churchill's advice: "Just leave him alone. He'll go away."
Residents of condo want gator to go away