Why do we tolerate alligators in populated areas?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
If the species is potentially lethal to humans and not critically endangered, then humans should have a self-defense right to kill one if they believe their life is in danger. Families should have the right to protect their properties with fences, etc, to allow pets and children to walk freely in their yards.

The issue then becomes killing a gator, or other apex predator. It's not that easy!

They are not a problem. It’s a bunch of media hype. Dogs are a bigger problem.

According to the Florida Department of Health, each year an average of over 600 Floridians are hospitalized and 2 deaths occur from injuries sustained from a dog bite. Most incidents occur in the home or on the property the dog resides at, affecting people the dog is already familiar with.

Vs

The Florida conservation commission said in November 2021 there were 442 unprovoked alligator bites in Florida from 1948 to 2021, averaging six a year. Of those bites, 26 were fatal, meaning there was one fatal injury nearly every three years in the state

WHAAT! Stop it with your FACTS and critical thinking.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are a lot of gators in the SE US and there are a lot of people. Given the numbers of both, not that many folks are harmed by alligators every year.

My parents live in a golf community in the south so there are gators quite often. At least once a year they send me a photo of an alligator wandering down their street, or multiple gators on the golf course. What I do find mystifying are the HOAs or community regulations that limit yard-fencing. As a result, houses back up to these ponds and you can't just send your kids outside to play because you can't be certain a gator hasn't wandered into your yard.

People in HOA golf communities don’t really just send their kids out back to play. Before we moved to a golf community, we did have a fenced in yard in an older neighborhood and I did go out on the play set. But once we were in the golf neighborhood that did have ponds/gators we mostly a) had scheduled play dates inside people’s homes, b) played out front in the quiet street (roller blading, sidewalk chalk, etc.), or c) went to the neighborhood swim/country club. Or we swam in the screened-in pool at our house. You are right though that kids don’t just roam around out back by the random retention ponds and whatnot. I’m sure gators may have been a factor, but we also had to avoid golfballs hitting us because our house backed right up to the course. Personally I have no desire to ever live in a gated/HOA/golf neighborhood ever again for that and other reasons.

After growing up on a bayou in Louisiana and spending a lot of time at my grandparents who lived on a creek on the TX gulf coast, I think a lot of folks don't send kids out to play near water because of poisonous snakes, and, non-visible harmful organisms in warm water. We did see alligators once a year or so in the water, but never in our yard. I was more worried about the fire ants!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
If the species is potentially lethal to humans and not critically endangered, then humans should have a self-defense right to kill one if they believe their life is in danger. Families should have the right to protect their properties with fences, etc, to allow pets and children to walk freely in their yards.

The issue then becomes killing a gator, or other apex predator. It's not that easy!

They are not a problem. It’s a bunch of media hype. Dogs are a bigger problem.

According to the Florida Department of Health, each year an average of over 600 Floridians are hospitalized and 2 deaths occur from injuries sustained from a dog bite. Most incidents occur in the home or on the property the dog resides at, affecting people the dog is already familiar with.

Vs

The Florida conservation commission said in November 2021 there were 442 unprovoked alligator bites in Florida from 1948 to 2021, averaging six a year. Of those bites, 26 were fatal, meaning there was one fatal injury nearly every three years in the state

WHAAT! Stop it with your FACTS and critical thinking.

I know. It's like sharks. People are terrified of being bitten even though fewer than 20 people a year are bitten by sharks in the US. But stampede toward NYC where 1600 people are bitten each year. By other people!

[Anonymous]

I live in florida. So, you have to assume that in any of body of water there could be an alligator. That being said, I have never seen one in the wild, only in the zoo or Busch gardens! They're there, it's just they're not like running around down the street typically.

My family likes to kayak and we do that in safe marked areas. In fact the river we usually go in has never had an alligator bite in the many decades that it's been a attraction then State Park. But we don't go where it's unsafe, like areas that say alligator warning or off in to mangroves or anything like that. I actually do agree that they should perhaps be trapped and removed a little more aggressively and populated areas, especially considering they're not as endangered like they were.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
If the species is potentially lethal to humans and not critically endangered, then humans should have a self-defense right to kill one if they believe their life is in danger. Families should have the right to protect their properties with fences, etc, to allow pets and children to walk freely in their yards.

The issue then becomes killing a gator, or other apex predator. It's not that easy!

They are not a problem. It’s a bunch of media hype. Dogs are a bigger problem.

According to the Florida Department of Health, each year an average of over 600 Floridians are hospitalized and 2 deaths occur from injuries sustained from a dog bite. Most incidents occur in the home or on the property the dog resides at, affecting people the dog is already familiar with.

Vs

The Florida conservation commission said in November 2021 there were 442 unprovoked alligator bites in Florida from 1948 to 2021, averaging six a year. Of those bites, 26 were fatal, meaning there was one fatal injury nearly every three years in the state

WHAAT! Stop it with your FACTS and critical thinking.

I know. It's like sharks. People are terrified of being bitten even though fewer than 20 people a year are bitten by sharks in the US. But stampede toward NYC where 1600 people are bitten each year. By other people!

I am old enough to remember when Jaws came out. The year before everyone was swimming, bodysurfing, laying in rafts way in the water, etc. The next year no one would go in above their ankles.

[Anonymous]

My parents live in Charleston, SC, and sometimes gators walk through their yard on the way to the pond in the back. A couple of their neighbors’ dogs have been eaten, quite unfortunately, but I believe incidents are few and far between. There are signs all over the place warning against swimming and they do usually flee into the water if people approach.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
If the species is potentially lethal to humans and not critically endangered, then humans should have a self-defense right to kill one if they believe their life is in danger. Families should have the right to protect their properties with fences, etc, to allow pets and children to walk freely in their yards.

The issue then becomes killing a gator, or other apex predator. It's not that easy!

They are not a problem. It’s a bunch of media hype. Dogs are a bigger problem.

According to the Florida Department of Health, each year an average of over 600 Floridians are hospitalized and 2 deaths occur from injuries sustained from a dog bite. Most incidents occur in the home or on the property the dog resides at, affecting people the dog is already familiar with.

Vs

The Florida conservation commission said in November 2021 there were 442 unprovoked alligator bites in Florida from 1948 to 2021, averaging six a year. Of those bites, 26 were fatal, meaning there was one fatal injury nearly every three years in the state

WHAAT! Stop it with your FACTS and critical thinking.

I know. It's like sharks. People are terrified of being bitten even though fewer than 20 people a year are bitten by sharks in the US. But stampede toward NYC where 1600 people are bitten each year. By other people!

Thank you, this gave me a chuckle. The next time I am walking down the street in NY I am going to watch out for biters!

[Anonymous]

I agree with the poster that alligators are it as big a problem as dogs roaming in the south. When I lived there I was wary of alligators, but completely scared of the pit bulls and other dogs neighbors would let wander. You didn't want to have an outside cat there, because it would not be coming back.

[Anonymous]

They kill alligators all the time. I think it's stupid. Why kill an alligator who bit or even ate someone stupid enough to wade into a pond where they live? It's not like they did something wrong and killing them will take away the danger of it happening again -- it will happen again the next time someone wades into a pond where there are alligators.

Animals have a right to live on this earth. Alligators are incredible creatures. There is a tv show about hillbilly swamp men killing alligators. It's disgusting. Like watching snuff films. Leave animals alone.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Story on the radio about an alligator holding a family hostage in Hilton Head requiring hours of local authorities time before it finally moved away.

Why not kill that one gator?

I agree... these are not endangered.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Humans don’t own nature you know. We don’t deserve space any more than animals, bugs, or other creatures (including plants). Grow up.

No one owes space on their porch to an alligator. Even if we decide it is OK to preserve the species, it doesn't mean that we need to allow them to be urban pests.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can someone explain why the gators are in the man-made ponds? I get that they travel and wander into them, but if it's man-made, then assuming they don't put fish in them, what are they eating that they like to stay there?

I believe it is common practice to add fish to man-made ponds to help with bugs and algae.

Fish get into ponds without any help whatsoever from humans.

Fish eggs are sticky. When wading birds like herons or waterfowl walk through shallow water where fish (particularly sunfish, bass and various minnow species) lay eggs or build nests on the bottom for their eggs, some of the eggs stick to the bird’s feet, and when the birds fly to other ponds, some of the fish eggs stuck to their feet will come off and then hatch in the “new” pond.

You can dig a pond in the middle of a field, not connected to any other body of water, and within a few years it will have fish it in.


Nature takes care of it.

My elderly (African American) great grandmother used to think that fish flew at night, because how else could they appear in puddles and ponds by themselves. It's funny to me how people back then made up answers to questions that they had no idea about.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
If the species is potentially lethal to humans and not critically endangered, then humans should have a self-defense right to kill one if they believe their life is in danger. Families should have the right to protect their properties with fences, etc, to allow pets and children to walk freely in their yards.

The issue then becomes killing a gator, or other apex predator. It's not that easy!

They are not a problem. It’s a bunch of media hype. Dogs are a bigger problem.

According to the Florida Department of Health, each year an average of over 600 Floridians are hospitalized and 2 deaths occur from injuries sustained from a dog bite. Most incidents occur in the home or on the property the dog resides at, affecting people the dog is already familiar with.

Vs

The Florida conservation commission said in November 2021 there were 442 unprovoked alligator bites in Florida from 1948 to 2021, averaging six a year. Of those bites, 26 were fatal, meaning there was one fatal injury nearly every three years in the state

WHAAT! Stop it with your FACTS and critical thinking.

I know. It's like sharks. People are terrified of being bitten even though fewer than 20 people a year are bitten by sharks in the US. But stampede toward NYC where 1600 people are bitten each year. By other people!

Thank you, this gave me a chuckle. The next time I am walking down the street in NY I am going to watch out for biters!

Your fallacy here is that the people (afraid of sharks) are not the same people (stampeding toward NYC)

[Anonymous]

OP - I guess after reading this thread, you will understand why "we" tolerate alligators. The funny thing is that pretty much all of the posters probably believe in evolution, but somehow think that we "owe" it to other species to take care of them. No. We may protect some alligators so that they can fulfill their role as a keystone species, but we don't need millions of these running around the south. Just like bears are put down when they frequent human areas, we should do the same with alligators that live in neighborhoods.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP - I guess after reading this thread, you will understand why "we" tolerate alligators. The funny thing is that pretty much all of the posters probably believe in evolution, but somehow think that we "owe" it to other species to take care of them. No. We may protect some alligators so that they can fulfill their role as a keystone species, but we don't need millions of these running around the south. Just like bears are put down when they frequent human areas, we should do the same with alligators that live in neighborhoods.

No, we shouldn't.