We have a pond on our property and there are alligators in the pond, they have been seen. I can't imagine anyone stupid enough to jump in for a swim.
I have (yet another) dumb question:
Are they a protected species? Can’t understand why they weren’t eradicated when civilization arrived.
Some research professor (in FL) would go swimming with alligators armed with only a wooden dowel, 14, maybe 18" long at best, to push off any that actively came up to him.
Probably the inspiration for the Oliver Platt character.
Where in Texas do you live? I just read that gators might be as far west as Waco. That’s where my brother lives. They said there might be gators in Lake Waco where I went on a boat one time. Didn’t see any gators though.
I have a friend that caught a bunch of baby alligators and released them in to his pond. It turned out, ummmm, poorly to say the least. He nearly never caught them all as they grew and became a dangerous nuisance. A few years after he thought they were all removed Alligatorzilla showed up. He missed one evidently.
Before you ask why would he do this...I have no earthly idea. I’ll just say he was a little bit crazy even for this neck of the woods, lol.