Game Warden Drags, Kills Alligator(on a Houston suburb's residential street-on video)

Channel 2 Pseudo-News website ^ | 4/29/03 | Channel 2 sleazeball tabloid newsroom

[Diddle E. Squat]

Game Warden Drags, Kills Alligator Katy Residents Angry Over Gator's Death

POSTED: 8:47 a.m. CDT April 29, 2003 UPDATED: 11:04 a.m. CDT April 29, 2003

KATY, Texas -- Some Houston-area residents said they were upset Monday at the way a Texas Parks & Wildlife Department game warden got rid of 9-foot alligator in their neighborhood.

Residents told News2Houston that they called authorities after discovering the gator Thursday in the middle of a road in the 22000 block of Lodgestone Court in a Cinco Ranch neighborhood in Katy.

Witnesses recorded the gator's capture on videotape, in which the game warden was seen tying the animal to the back of his pickup, and then dragging it down the street while children and parents watched.

"It was very inhumane," resident Lara Mercadante said. "It was awful. It was absolutely unreal. If you weren't here you would not believe that it happened. We never thought that it was going to end up the way it did."

The game warden then took the alligator to the end of the street, and shot and killed it, authorities said.

TPWD officials said that although it is not typical practice for their officers to tow a live alligator behind a truck, they believe that the game warden followed what he felt was the most effective course of action.

However, officials said that as of a result of the incident, they are now reviewing their policies regarding nuisance alligator removal.

[Diddle E. Squat]

Judge for yourself, here's Some of the video

[Liberal Classic]

Poor, misunderstood gator.

[CFW]

Residents told News2Houston that they called authorities after discovering the gator Thursday in the middle of a road...

Well, what were they expecting? The cop to politely ask the gator to accompany him to the pound?

[annyokie]

I guess Lara would rather have the gator eat her granny, than be "abused" by the Game Warden.

[Diddle E. Squat]

We've had a lot of Californians and Yankees move to Houston...

[Search4Truth]

Let that be a message to any other rogue gators in the area. Gators ought not trifle with folks down in the Deep South. They oughta know better.

[battousai]

As usual the media takes one part of the story and overblows it. What would they have had him do? Pick up a 9 FOOT gator and throw it into the back of his pickup?? Either that or shoot it right there and risk a richochete hitting the by standers.

Sure it doesn't look pretty, but sometimes you gotta no other options.

I mean what did these whiny residents think he was gonna do with the gator? Talk it into getting into the truck???

[Bigg Red]

Well, what were they expecting? The cop to politely ask the gator to accompany him to the pound?


No, but why would he drag it first and then shoot it? Sounds unnecessarily cruel to me.

[Cobra Scott]

Unfortunately, this is the type of nanny-state attitude that has rubbed off on natives as well.

Had it eaten a kid, they would have been at the lawyer's office that same day.

Texas has gone to he**

[Mike the Conservative]

I think any gators in Florida that are over 6 feet long get trapped by a trapper and then made into luggage.

[Mike the Conservative]

I think any gators in Florida that are over 6 feet long get trapped by a trapper and then made into luggage.

[eddie willers]

gator eat her granny,

annyokie quotes Polk Salad Annie.
Any relation?

[Diddle E. Squat]

My guess is these dolts don't realize that the gator wasn't returned to the wild because having lost its fear/shyness of humans it was much more likely to threaten people and return to urban areas. And sleazeball channel 2 isn't about to educate anyone to that fact. Channel 2 is about the worst example of journalistic theater, the kind that gleefully would throw gasoline on a fire at an orphanage to get better witness 'reactions'.

[July 4th]

Exactly how else did they think the 9 foot alligator was going to get to the end of the street? Oh yeah, just put a leash on it and walk it down there.

[mtbrandon49]

They called the cop to get rid of it and he did. Then they complain because he dragged the darn thing to the end of the street to shoot it. I figure by the time he got there everybody within a couple of blocks was there to watch. Instead of shooting it in front of some kids and softhearted people he dragged it out of the way and killed it.

[Conspiracy Guy]

Nine foot gator weighs a bit too much for one man to pick up. Probably drug it to get away from houses before discharging his firearm. Warden did what he had to do.

[CFW]

No, but why would he drag it first and then shoot it? Sounds unnecessarily cruel to me.

If he shot it right there in the middle of the street, the residents would be screaming about him using a gun...IN FRONT OF CHILDREN!

How would you convince a 9 foot gator to move?

[Vigilantcitizen]

Here in Georgia, Game officers will call in professional trappers to capture nuisance gators. The trappers get to keep the gator for later sale to boot and meat companies, in order to pay for his services.

The skin and meat from a good sized gator will bring several hundred dollars.

[Diddle E. Squat]

http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/news/42803_local_gatorcaught.html

Katy residents outraged at treatment of alligator

By Chris Adams ABC Eyewitness News

(4/28/03) — Some residents of a Cinco Ranch neighborhood are angry and shocked at what they call inhumane treatment of an alligator.

People who live in the Shadow Bend subdivision found a nine-foot alligator in the street. They say they really didn't have a problem with the gator. They just wanted it gone. What they did have a problem with is how the animal was treated by folks with the Parks and Wildlife Department.

It happened last Thursday morning when residents in the subdivision on on Lodgestone at Cannondale woke up to find an alligator in the middle of their street.

"They live on the golf course out here. We see them in the pond back there, so he was only like a house away from his territory," said resident Laura Brumbauth. "He was just laying in the street and everyone was getting their cameras and watching him."

The nine foot gator sat there quietly for hours. Eventually, the Fort Bend Sheriff's Department arrived and then came a game warden from the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. At first, the crowd thought the game warden was relocating the gator.

"I think the consensus of the group was that he was here to save the animal," said resident Georgia Daley. "The animal was also, I think, in danger because it was in the middle of the street. It could be run over. It wasn't in its habitat. It just needed to move."

Instead, the game warden tied the alligator to his truck.

"He tied the alligator up and started dragging him down the street and that's when everyone started screaming because he was dragging him too fast and he was flipping and turning and it looked pretty cruel," said Brumbauth.

"When I see that animal laying there, even on the video, it enrages me to think that someone could be so cruel," said Daley.

The game warden then took the gator to the end of the street and fatally shot it.

"If a child was in danger, if a pet was in danger, by all means dispose of the animal. I won't go that far," said Daley. "But if that animal can be saved, then save it."

We spoke with Tom Harvey of the Parks and Wildlife Department. He said alligators that are less than five feet in length they do try to relocate. However in this case, he said, "Safety is our main concern. This nine foot gator would not have been safe to capture and relocate." He also says alligators that have become comfortable around human being are more dangerous.

[Search4Truth]

Being from the Big Easy in the Deep South, I can tell you that was one dangerous gator. Gators that size are fearless, they will attack anything, on impulse - gators don't think before they attack, they just attack.

You don't try to capture an alligator that size, too dangerous. He should have shot it dead where he found it, and then dragged it off.

That's what we do with ones half that size, that find their way into the suburbs through the drainage canals. Gators that size will take small pets. Gators the size of the one in this article takes anything they want.

A gator's most dangerous trait is that they seem docile and lumbering, but in a micro second can be in your face. It's shocking the first time you see a gator go from being a log, to lunging out of the water where all you see is teeth.

To hell with that gator. Although, they are tasty fried or with a sauce piquant.

[Diddle E. Squat]

How long until some nitwit journalist/politician compares this to Jasper?

[freeeee]

Exactly how else did they think the 9 foot alligator was going to get to the end of the street?

I witnessed one grown man accompanied by two teenage boys (sons?) trap a huge gator (easily 9 - 10 feet) and load it into the bed of a pickup truck. They were a private service requested by the county to remove large nuisance gators.

They clearly had done it before, as were methodical and efficient in their work.

IMO, the problem mentioned in the article was caused by a lack of experience compounded by a lack of manpower. Either that, or the game warden was a second rate piker who didn't really care about doing a professional job. Just because he was a game warden doesn't mean he was a professional or cared about his work.

[Diddle E. Squat]

The Channel 13 messageboard on this is fun lunch hour reading(and somehow the Dixie Chicks got invoked during the alligator debate). One example:


Subject: Aliigator Cruelty 45 people have read this message
Author: katymom42 4 people have recommended it
Recommend this Message




I witnessed the tragedy. Channel 13 did a great job reporting it. It WAS NOT being aggressive. In fact after an hour of doing nothing, once the warden arrived and LASSOED him, the gator tried to BACK UP away from everyone. Once lassoed we all thought he was going to save the gator. Instead, unannounced he got in his truck and started driving. It all happened in a matter of seconds. We had no time to respond. EVERYONE was in shock and screaming. The kids saw the dragging and heard the shot. They are not stupid. This was cruel and senseless. How can we as a society stand by and allow these things to happen? What does this teach our children? AND I DO STOP AND MOVE TURTLES IN THE STREET.

[dd5339]

Where was Steve Irwin when you need him?

Personally,glad the higher ups here at work chose to send us to Dallas instead of Houston.

Can you imagine walking the dog and wandering across a 9' gator?

Wonder what ammo would be best for dispatching rogue gators?

Semper Fi

[Diddle E. Squat]

This sounded like a job for you and your sword...

[Manic_Episode]

They should've gotten Steve Irwin.

[Paul C. Jesup]

Prehaps we should have just feed the PETA members to the gator.

Then the gator would have been full and happy, making it easier to move and no one would be left to complain about it.

[Dog Gone]

I saw this on the news this morning. They were interviewing all the traumatized soccer moms who witnessed the cruelty.

This is my neighborhood and I'm glad this sucker is dead. I'm still not sure how he got into that pond, but I don't need to be stepping on no steenkin' alligator when I stumble out to get the morning newspaper.

[Jay D. Dyson]

No, but why would he drag it first and then shoot it? Sounds unnecessarily cruel to me.

I concur. Though the gator is not an animal to be trifled with (indeed, it is a dangerous beast), dragging an animal -- any animal -- is cruel.

I totally understand the need to destroy the animal, but the guy went about it the wrong way. That he did it in full view of people who don't understand the need for the animal's destruction has only complicated the matter.

-Jay

[RooRoobird14]

Well, go ahead and flame away--I don't think any animal should be dragged behind a truck. You'd think the game warden would have come more prepared to handle the alligator--it's not like he was called out to remove a baby duck, you know.

[freeeee]

This is my neighborhood and I'm glad this sucker is dead.

I agree. I have to deal with them too and they're a big danger to my dogs.

That said, there is a right way and a wrong way to do things. The issue here isn't the removal and destruction of the nuisance gator. That's a done deal. The issue is the improper and decidedly unprofessional method used by the game warden.

[Liberal Classic]

My guess is he lassoed it to keep it from moving towards people. Get it away from bystanders and then shoot it.

[Recon by Fire]

Big deal, the gator was going to gator heaven anyway.

[Paul C. Jesup]

You have no idea on how dangerious a alligator can be.

[HamiltonJay]

Dragged the gator away from the gawkers and killed it... seems like the right thing to do in my view.

[SoDak]

I agree. It's time the world's soccer moms grow up.

[HoustonCurmudgeon]

We've had a lot of Californians and Yankees move to Houston...

.. and they all move to Katy!

Californians and yankees in Katy Ping!!!

[RooRoobird14]

If the alligator had to be destroyed, so be it. I would think they would have tried to relocate it, though. Dragging the gator on its belly was wrong. If the game warden couldn't handle the gator, he should have called for back-up and waited--and told the soccer moms to round up their kids, dogs and cats and get off the street.

I'm not a PETA freak, but I will tell you (as a former wildlife biology major) that some game wardens can show depraved indifference to animal life--I know, because I witnessed it firsthand. That's one of the reasons I changed majors from wildlife biology to engineering.

[Search4Truth]

IMHO, he should have shot it, then dragged it away. The way he did it was a little theatrical, but would have received only gestures of a found farewell from my neighbors.

[Delbert]

POLK .........SALAD.

[proud_2_B_texasgal]

I grew up in Florida. 9 foot alligators are not all that uncommon there. And we grew up learning to respect them for critters they are. There is a 'proper' humane way to handle a gator.

Once the gator was secured, it's just a matter of waiting for someone who knew how to handle one to come do it. It would appear that this warden was either unschooled in handling this problem, or didn't want to take the time to gather the proper help.

Either way, the gator would probably still be dead, but it wouldn't have that ugly, macho, trigger-happy feel about it.

[PetroniDE]

Yup. There goes the neighborhood...

[Dog Gone]

The only native Texans living in Katy are the kids.

[Frohickey]

If these people that are complain where to help the game warden haul the 9 foot alligator INTO the back of the pickup truck, then they can talk.

[Ditter]

It sounds like a no-win situation for the officer as well as the gator. Where have all the stupid people come from? It didn't seem like there were so many when I was growing up. I must have led a sheltered life.

[Liberal Classic]

What is a 9' alligator going to way? Somewhere over 150 to upwards of 200 lbs?

[Search4Truth]

"Either way, the gator would probably still be dead, but it wouldn't have that ugly, macho, trigger-happy feel about it."

Ahhh, that ugly, macho, trigger-happy feeling - how I miss it so. Although, that is not quite the reaction we get from women around here, when we dispatch a dangerous animal. They express a tad more gratitude.

[fella]

I wonder what these people would be saying had this gator gotten ahold of a toddler.

[RightOnline]

"The game warden then took the alligator to the end of the street, and shot and killed it, authorities said."

Yeah, well, I suppose he should have carried the gator to the end of the street before plugging 'im. Would have been far more humane............................................ahem.