Sunday Breakfast

The Fort Myers News Press has a terrific article today on the alligator problem. Animal experts weigh in and give a very non-PC summation of why the alligators are killing people: They're predators who like our nice backyards and like to eat us. Oh.

Among the theories about why Sanibel’s sudden rash of attacks is that the alligators don’t have enough to eat and, therefore, are targeting humans.

“There’s no credence in that whatsoever,” Hord said. “Alligators will eat each other before they go hungry. There are plenty of things for them to eat, like fish and turtles. They’re not picky about what they eat.”

Another theory is that too many alligators — between 200 and 400 larger than 4 feet — live on the 17.2-square-mile island.

Sanibel naturalist Mark “Bird” Westall, the island’s former mayor and alligator trapper, said it’s not the number of alligators — it’s the number of alligators living in residential areas.

Although two-thirds of the island is preserve land, many alligators live in neighborhoods.

“When I go on the Sanibel River, I don’t see that many alligators around because the Sanibel River is not prime alligator habitat,” Westall said. “Residential ponds are prime alligator habitat. Developers make alligator habitat, and the alligators go, ‘This is cool. I have a deep lake and soft lawns to lie on. Why should I dredge my own hole?’ You always hear, ‘We’ve moved into the alligators’ habitat.’ That’s hogwash. We make alligator habitat.

The whole article is good. I read it as I looked out the window at the deep man-made lake and soft lawn of the backyard of my home here on the edge of the Everglades.

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Big gators raise big questions

Sanibel to consider changes in policy

By KEVIN LOLLAR, klollar@news-press.com
Published by news-press.com on August 1, 2004

Three alligator attacks on a small barrier island in three years.

Two of them fatal.

Does Sanibel have an alligator problem?

Is there something about Sanibel that is prompting the attacks?

Theories abound as many Sanibel and Lee County residents have called for an alligator eradication program on the island.

The truth might lie in what the three attacks have in common.

All three attacks were unprovoked, all three victims were bitten by alligators more than 9 feet long and all three were attacked in residential areas.

• A 10-foot, 9-inch alligator attacked Robert Steele, 81, as he walked his dog near his home on Sept. 11, 2001. Steele bled to death.

• A 9-foot, 7-inch alligator attacked Jane C. Keefer, 74, April 21 as she was gardening near a lake behind her home. Keefer recovered.

• An 11-foot, 9-inch alligator attacked landscaper Janie Melsek, 54, July 21, as she trimmed trees behind a house. Melsek died July 23.

Popular wisdom insists that the only dangerous alligator is an alligator that has been fed by humans.

Alligators have a natural fear of humans, but if people feed them, they lose that fear and begin to associate humans with food and approach humans looking for handouts.

As long as they aren’t fed, even large alligators will shy away from people.

“That’s an old wives’ tale,” said biologist and alligator expert Lindsey Hord, of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. “Alligators are predators, and, under the right circumstances, can see a human as a prey item.

“A 9-footer might be stretching its imagination thinking it could take a human; it might be a case of mistaken identity where it grabs something swimming and says, ‘Oh, this isn’t a raccoon.’ But for a 10-footer, a 150-pound person is something it would be able to take like a deer or hog. The majority of fatalities by big alligators have been feeding attacks, seeing the person as a prey item.”

Of course, the dangers of feeding alligators must not be underestimated, Hord said. Feeding alligators is a second-degree misdemeanor in Florida, punishable by up to $500 in fines and 60 days in jail.

The fact remains, however, that large alligators are dangerous whether they have been fed or not.

Since 1973, alligators have killed 14 people in Florida; 11 of the alligators were larger than 9 feet.

Six of the victims were adults.

A necropsy of the alligator that attacked Melsek showed no indication that it had been fed, though that possibility cannot be ruled out.

But the attack was certainly unprovoked:

Melsek was working at a vacation rental when a 457-pound alligator lunged from a nearby pond, grabbed her right arm and dragged her into the water.

Neighbor Jim Anholt and three Sanibel police officers struggled to pull Melsek out of the water for five minutes before the alligator released her.

The animal disappeared, then resurfaced 20 feet away, opened its mouth and started swimming toward Melsek and the rescue party. Police officers shot the alligator to death.

“That’s how alligators attack big mammals: They’re ambush predators; they take things at the water’s edge,” Hord said. “They’re adapted to sneak up on stuff — hogs, deer, possums, raccoons. Potentially, they could do the same thing to a person.”

Among the theories about why Sanibel’s sudden rash of attacks is that the alligators don’t have enough to eat and, therefore, are targeting humans.

“There’s no credence in that whatsoever,” Hord said. “Alligators will eat each other before they go hungry. There are plenty of things for them to eat, like fish and turtles. They’re not picky about what they eat.”

Another theory is that too many alligators — between 200 and 400 larger than 4 feet — live on the 17.2-square-mile island.

Sanibel naturalist Mark “Bird” Westall, the island’s former mayor and alligator trapper, said it’s not the number of alligators — it’s the number of alligators living in residential areas.

Although two-thirds of the island is preserve land, many alligators live in neighborhoods.

“When I go on the Sanibel River, I don’t see that many alligators around because the Sanibel River is not prime alligator habitat,” Westall said. “Residential ponds are prime alligator habitat. Developers make alligator habitat, and the alligators go, ‘This is cool. I have a deep lake and soft lawns to lie on. Why should I dredge my own hole?’ You always hear, ‘We’ve moved into the alligators’ habitat.’ That’s hogwash. We make alligator habitat.

“If big alligators are dangerous, let’s eliminate alligators over 4 feet before they have a chance to breed.”

Sanibel City Councilman Steve Brown agreed.

“I have friends who live on the lake, and we were visiting them one time, and an alligator came up and was on the path,” he said. “It was 12 feet long and scared the bejimminy out of me. I did the courageous thing: I turned and ran.

“It’s just a matter of time before that alligator attacks somebody.”

Sanibel’s alligator policy is another possibility.

When the police department receives a complaint about an alligator, officers determine whether the animal is really a nuisance — a nuisance alligator is one that is a real or potential threat to people, pets or livestock.

If an alligator is less than 8 feet long and is simply sunning itself in someone’s yard, it’s not necessarily a nuisance, and officers might leave it alone or move it to another part of the island.

“Sanibel, as a sanctuary island, has traditionally been very environmentally friendly,” Sanibel Police Chief Bill Tomlinson said. “But we don’t relocate alligators of any size if they are a nuisance or aggressive. We carefully assess if one has become a nuisance. If it has, we don’t want it on the island.”

From June 2001 to May 2004, Sanibel police have received 404 alligator complaints, moved 40 alligators and destroyed 20.

Relocating a 7-foot alligator might allow it to grow to greater than 10 feet and become a danger to humans, even if it is never fed.

The state’s nuisance alligator policy is much less alligator friendly than Sanibel’s.

Trappers contracted by the state will destroy any alligator more than 4 feet long that someone complains about — the state stopped relocating alligators in 1978.

“It does not have to show aggression,” Hord said. “We have a liberal policy about removing alligators living around people. We don’t go hunting for them; people have to call us.”

The reason for the state’s more liberal policy is that alligators, once considered close to extinction, are no longer an endangered species — they are now listed as a species of special concern.

“There’s no biological justification to be protective of alligators anymore,” Hord said. “There are lots of alligators, lots of them. Florida is full of alligators.

“It’s not worth the risk of people’s safety to allow alligators to exist in proximity to houses, unless people choose to let them be there.”

The J.N. “Ding” Darling National Wildlife Refuge on Sanibel, which is run by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, has a specific test for alligators:

An official approaches the animal and motions with his hand as if throwing food.

“If you approach an alligator, it should back off into the water,” refuge ranger Jeff Combs said. “If we gesture at them, and they come to us, it means they’ve been fed, and we destroy them.”

In April, three days after Keefer’s alligator encounter, state wildlife officials questioned Sanibel’s relocation policy.

Sanibel’s policy will be discussed at Tuesday’s city council meeting, 13 days after Melsek was attacked.

“I’m an animal lover, but when you have three attacks in three years, we have to change our policies,” Brown said. “Not acting is not an option. How far we’ll go with tightening our policies, I don’t know yet, but we have to change. We have to protect the people.”

Posted by floridacracker at August 1, 2004 08:24 AM