NAPLES DAILY NEWS (Florida) 19 January 06 Editorial: Feeding alligators - Don't forget: It's a crime
Some people just don’t get it. They think that a deadly alligator attack cannot happen to them, or they’re just ignorant of the danger.
Consider the seasonal influx of gawkers at a watery alligator enclave on East U.S. 41 at Turner River Road. That is in the western end of the Big Cypress National Preserve.
Florida Wildlife officers are doing extra duty there these days to keep spectators at a safe distance and remind them to never, ever feed gators. That can help erase gators’ natural fear of humans and lead to the next senseless, vicious attack.
Southwest Florida has endured a series of such attacks. In 2004 alone, two people were killed by gators in Lee County.
Wildlife officers say they are so frustrated they had to issue about 10 citations in Collier year to people who insisted on feeding alligators, thereby putting themselves and others in harms way.
Therein might be a clue for a solution. If officers issued more citations, after every reasonable public education effort has failed, that might help get the word out.
That is, unless the gators have already struck and it’s too late, again.
Editorial: Feeding alligators - Don't forget: It's a crime