Natural, But Not So Beautiful

Gator trapping tends to be a family business, and the busiest family of trappers is in Lee. They know their job and are under no illusions about the nature of alligators. They're also interesting people:

Nuisance alligator trapper John French of Fort Myers already is the busiest in the state. He and his son-in-law, New Hope Christian Church pastor Tracy Hansen, average more than 500 alligator removals per year — about 1.4 every day — in a territory from Bonita Springs north to Venice.

French is a robust 61 and he loves his job. He is thoughtful and soft-spoken, and convinced his work is inherent to public safety.

"I've seen more gators than a lot of people," said French, who actually sees more than any of the state's 37 other nuisance alligator trappers.

"I've gone out and recovered bodies that a gator has attacked, and I know what they can do to you. And there's no sense in playing with these things."

But French meets all kinds when he answers alligator complaints. "You've got some people who are tickled to death to see you when you come to get the gator. Then there are those others," French said with a little of the patience creeping out of his voice.

He has little respect for the idea that alligators are harmless and should be left unfettered. That was particularly true when his job entailed removing the hand and then the upper arm of Michelle Reeves — Lee County's latest alligator victim — from the stomach of a 7-foot, 11-inch alligator he was called to trap Sept. 26. Despite being strongly cautioned against it, the 20-year-old Georgia woman had gone for a swim at night in the lake bordering the Lee Memorial HealthPark campus.

"When you have to do something like that and then you have to listen to some Yankee who's seen Steve Irwin on television and knows all about alligators, if you're not careful you can get perturbed," French said.

Update on 6/7/06:
John French has passed away while in service to the public, suffering a massive heart attack in the course of removing a gator.

John French, a Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission alligator trapper, rolls over a 6-foot, 7-inch alligator he caught at Beachwalk in south Fort Myers last week. French was called by a concerned resident who lives next to the lake after the alligator made a move for her dog.