Gators Kill Three in One Week-- Watch out this Fall!!

[Malikshah]

http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/05/15/alligator.attacks.ap/index.html

The jogger's death was not far from my stomping grounds..


More importantly-- this reminds me of the SUMMER OF SHARKS!!!! (Boo!) that preceded the national nightmare.

Think the media will start in on it?? Think they won't?

[vi5]

1. This was the main, headline story on CNN.com

Do you really need to ask?

[malaise]

2. Have the hurricanes

messed up their environment or created dislocation?

[leftyladyfrommo]

3. This should give the Adm. something different to talk about.

Actually, I would hate to make contact with an alligator. I like to watch them from a safe distance - like of TV.

Why do people even jog close to water there. It just seems kind of stupid.

[kittenpants]

6. There's a lot of inland water around here

like every neighborhood where I live has a lake, canal, stream... so it's hard to stay too far from it if you're jogging. That said, I'm new-ish to Florida and probably unnecessarily afraid of the alligators so I say as far from them as possible.

[leftyladyfrommo]

7. I've never been to Florida but I have heard that it is pretty

hard to get away from the alligators. I would just hate that. I have dogs and I would be worried about them all of the time.

[Malikshah]

12. It is hard at times-- We chose not live "on the water"

for that reason as well as because of the skeeters.

One could gate off the yard from the canals.

The three posited reasons for the attacks are

1) People feeding them--making them less fearful of humans
2) Breeding time--making them generally more aggressive and territorial
3) The lack of rain leading to lowered waters leading to less natural prey-- going farther afield for food.

Anectdotally...

My partner and I were biking through Shark Valley (near the everglades)-- a few years back during a drought period.

We saw a gator in a mudpuddle just sitting there off to the side of the road...as we passed, another gator--much bigger--just came out and took the smaller one by the back and dragged it into the sawgrass...

Gators sun themselves on the road-- don't try and pass them on foot or on bike...they're fast critters...

[DoYouEverWonder]

9. You can actually get pretty close to gators safely

For the most part they are not very interested in us and if you are careful in areas where they are known to be you shouldn't have a problem. But being careful means staying out of the water, especially during mating season which is right now.

[marmar]

4. Oh no!

I hope the alligators don't head up I-75 to Michigan! :scared: Perhaps the terra-ists are using the alligators to strike America! :scared: Or maybe they're spreading reptilian flu! :scared: :scared: :scared:

[gratuitous]

14. You are properly conditioned, citizen

Ph34r!

[depakid]

5. CNN might as well be a tabloid

[deaniac21]

8. Global warming is running the alligators out of their boiling hot

habitat.

[Saphire]

10. I may be missing something here, but why are there no reported

alligator attacks in LA??? Why is it only FL gators that attack??

[deaniac21]

11. Katrina decimated the flat dogs in LA.

[porphyrian]

13. Are these Gulf Coast gators?

There might be a reason they've developed a taste for human flesh.

[RamboLiberal]

15. This and the polygamy story will be what Anderson Cooper

and the cable whores cover is my bet. BTW, any idea why the polygamist/cult leader on FBI's 10 most wanted got such extensive coverage all last week? Geez, it seemed to be almost all that Anderson Cooper covered last week.

And note his ratings dropped drastically over what Aaron Brown got in same time period last year. I'm thinking Cooper got way overrated from the Katrina coverage.

[RebelOne]

16. Here's an alligator story for you.

My mother's house in Miami Springs, FL was just across the street from a canal dividing Miami Springs and Hialeah. One night my brother saw an alligator come out of the canal and cross the street. It wasn't a real big one, maybe about 4 or 5 feet. Well, he grabbed that critter, stuffed it into the trunk of his car and drove to the Miami Springs police department, went in and said, "I have something for you." Needless to say, the police had to call the wildlife department to come take it away. My brother and the Miami Springs police department were not on very good terms for various reasons, so he thought he would get a little revenge.

[magellan]

17. I think the reason we're seeing these attacks is linked to the drought

...here in FL. The alligator's normal habitat, swamps, lakes and canals, are drying up. (We drove down to the Treasure Coast this weekend and the canal along the turnpike is completely dry, which is unusual.) This translates into more alligators competing for the same shrinking water and food supplies. Some will inevitably be driven to attack pets and people to survive.

Just a thought.

[blindpig]

18. Too many people in gator habitat.

That's the nut of it. Gators don't normally mess with humans but statistics will catch up, by and by. Drought just makes it worse.