DAYTONA BEACH NEWS-JOURNAL (Florida) 19 October 05 Time to halt great gator migration (Aaron London)
I have despaired in recent months, as loyal readers of this space know, of ever seeing a live, actual, Florida alligator in the wild.
And while I am still on the lookout for a glimpse of this mythical beast, I believe I know why I have not yet laid eyes on one.
After seeing news reports of a gator found in Los Angeles earlier this year and just last week another gator appeared in the backyard of a New Jersey home, I can only conclude that we are in the midst of a great gator migration.
Perhaps the rapid influx of new residents that has bolstered the home building industry here in the Sunshine State has forced our friends, Alligator mississipiensis, to find greener pastures.
As more snowbirds make Florida their permanent home, the gators have turned their long tails and run off to find more peaceful surroundings.
I can only surmise that there will be more gator spottings in areas not normally known as natural habitats for the scaly beasts.
It is high time, then, for state wildlife officials to investigate this phenomenon.
I am certain that a dedicated study of alligator demographics will find a virtual freight train of gators heading north along the Interstate 95 corridor. It is clear to me that recent news reports of Florida panthers meeting a tragic end along the superhighway were forced into the open by the presence of streams of gators heading north.
But this now begs the question of whether or not Florida's claim to be the natural environment for alligators has passed.
Perhaps the Princeton Tigers will consider a new mascot, decked in team colors, with a fashionable Princeton scarf to accent its large teeth.
Or maybe gators will find their way farther north, to Boston, where the Beantown baseballers will adopt a new mascot and name to gear up for the next baseball season.
The Boston Red Gators has a certain nice ring to it -- and even fits in with one of our own local establishments.
But maybe the real answer is for Florida to take active steps to preserve and retain its apparently dwindling alligator population. And the answer goes far beyond the issuance of a new specialty license plate -- though that is long past due.
No, the solution runs much deeper than that. It is high time for the creation of "gator friendly" zones across the Sunshine State. Time to make a concerted effort to preserve that part of our heritage that is uniquely Florida. And time for ordinary residents to enjoy the beauty and majesty of our state's official reptile.
Florida is justly famous for its orange juice and its tourist industry. But a Florida without alligators? That would be like Los Angeles without smog, Seattle without the Space Needle and Philadelphia without cheese steaks. Unnatural and wrong.
With all the residents arriving daily, there are doubtless thousands of Floridians who, like me, have yet to experience seeing a gator in the wild.
Don't we owe our newest residents that chance to have that Florida experience before it is too late? It will be a dark day when the children of the Sunshine State can only see gators in the zoo or in pictures in books. It will be a sad day indeed when gators only run free in New Jersey -- giving a whole new meaning to the term Garden State.
Time to halt great gator migration