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WFTV (Orlando, Florida) 15 April 05 Men Arrested For Beating Gator To Death With Golf Club
Clermont, Fla.: Two men are behind bars in Lake County for beating an alligator to death with a golf club.
Residents of the Lake County community had become familiar with the alligator in their back yard. They're mostly British vacationers unaccustomed to being so close to the Florida wildlife. That's why they were so stunned when they saw it beaten to death before their eyes.
The stunt pulled by Michael Gaffney, 20, and Jeffrey Malott, 20, can be described in one word, senseless. It was considered senseless by the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, who arrested the men, and the residents who had to witness the killing of an alligator, who they say never acted aggressively.
"[The gator is] well known here. It disappears into the brush and goes feeding and it comes back occasionally and it pretty much leaves everyone alone," said neighbor Gregory Buxton.
But eyewitnesses say the two landscapers went hunting for it. They finished their work and were hanging around the pond when they began throwing bread in the water as bait. When the six-foot gator came on shore, they beat it to death with a golf club, all in front of horrified neighbors begging them to stop.
"They yelled numerous times for the guys to stop, but they continued on," said Sgt. John Herrell.
Deputies don't know if the men intended to use the gator for food or if they were just fooling around, but they say one thing is certain.
"It's unfortunate. All we can hope at this point is that these guys are held accountable for their actions," said Herrell.
"There's rules and regulations for it and there's no excuse for that. No excuse whatsoever," said neighbor Gregory Buxton.
The two men bonded out of the Lake County jail on $2,000 bond, but the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission spokesperson says the two men may face even more charges in the coming days related to how they lured the gator out of the pond.
Men Arrested For Beating Gator To Death With Golf Club

ORLANDO SENTINEL (Florida) 16 April 05 Brits prompt arrests in gator death - 2 held in reptile's beating after visitors call cops (Jim Buynak )
Four Corners: Three British tourists were credited with prompting the arrests of two men on charges of luring a 6-foot alligator from a retention pond and beating it to death with a golf club.
"It was really very dramatic," Carol Urry said in a telephone interview Friday from her home in the Midlands of England. "They bludgeoned that poor creature."
Urry, 60, her son, James Urry, 29, and Carol Urry's partner, Peter Creswell, 63, were on their final day of an eight-day visit to Central Florida on Thursday when the attack occurred.
"We all went down to the pool [the retention pond] and tried to ask them why they were doing that," she said. "They were just very dismissive. It was just cruel."
Creswell then called police.
Officer Stephen Farmer of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission arrived in the Woodridge subdivision in south Lake County shortly after noon, according to an arrest affidavit. The subdivision is off U.S. Highway 27 near the Polk County line.
When Farmer arrived at 901 Clear Creek Road, where the Urrys and Creswell were staying, they reported what had happened.
Urry said they were spending the last day of their vacation "just tidying up and relaxing by the pool" when the attack occurred.
She said they watched as the lawn-care workers pulled up in a truck with a trailer and began "gardening" in a lot next to the pond.
The men started "jumping up and down and flailing their arms about" trying to attract the reptile, she said.
Then, she said, the two men threw some "bread or cake" in the water, lured the alligator to the side of the pond and began hitting it with a golf club.
As Farmer interviewed the witnesses, the two men returned and were identified as the attackers, the affidavit said.
"They acted as if nothing at all happened," Farmer said. "They said things like 'What alligator?' "
Michael Allan Gaffney, 20, of Lake Wales, and Jeffrey Alan Malott, 22, of Winter Haven, were released from the Lake County Jail on $2,000 bond shortly after their arrests Thursday, according to jail records.
They could not be reached for comment.
The FWC officer said he did not find a golf club in their possession.
The two men, who are facing third-degree felony charges for the illegal capture and killing of an alligator, could be sentenced to up to five years in prison and fined up to $5,000 if they are found guilty, according to Florida statutes.
There are about 1 million alligators in the state, according to Allan Woodward, an alligator biologist with the FWC. The reptiles are considered "species of special concern" by the state but are classified as "threatened" by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Department because of their similarity to the American crocodile. The American crocodile is on the endangered species list.
Farmer said the attacked alligator was handed over to a trapper.
"He can use the hide and meat," he said. "We have pictures for evidence."
For the three British tourists, who flew back to England the night of the incident, it's a picture they wish they could forget.
Urry said that during her stay in Central Florida, her family and others in the neighborhood would walk down to the edge of the pond just to watch the alligator.
"It was quite fascinating to see it lying there quite happily in the water," she said. "We don't have alligators in England."
The attack, she said, was "appalling."
"It left us with a very nasty taste in our mouths," Urry said. "We can't understand the mentality of doing this to one of God's creatures."
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