[stainlessbanner]

[Lil'freeper]

*ahem*

[stainlessbanner]

Don't think this gator is the perp from recent attacks, though the article does state the gator that attacked TN girl in Ocala has been captured (12ft bull).

[Draco]

Either those people in the background are very small or that critter is smokin' big. Sheesh.

[rintense]

Holy crap!

[GreenAccord]

Duct tape. What can't it do?

[HairOfTheDog]

Wow... is he still alive? He's quite a marvel and deserves a refuge somewhere... In a petting zoo for adrenaline junkies perhaps. :~D

[Xenalyte]

He's a beauty, that one is, mate!

[linda_22003]

I've never heard of a "nuisance" alligator. What do they do, play their stereos at full blast, make crank phone calls, ring your doorbell to ask you if you have accepted Jesus Christ as your Personal Savior?

[JennysCool]

They grow darned big in some areas.

[KoRn]

Wow!

[Sax]

[Extremely Extreme Extremist]

MAN IN SUIT! MAN IN SUIT!

[Hydroshock]

Boots and luggage for all.

[NCC-1701]

Man, that looks like one of Godzilla's cousins!

[MikefromOhio]

Did someone call for Paul Hogan?????

[MissAmericanPie]

There is a great place to vacation in East Texas called "Chain O Lakes", no phones, no tv, just lovely log cabins with porches that stick out over the water. Horse back riding, fishing, hiking, swimming with the fish and turtles. It was Eden.

They have gators galore and a 12 footer in a pond outside the fabulous restaurant that you can watch while gourmet dining. You can order a horse drawn carriage to take you the short distance to the Herb Hill Farm restaurant. Herb Hill will give you a tour of their organic gardens before dinner, all fresh, fresh food.

I loved to sit on the porch swing with my coffee and watch them swim up in the early morning and feed them marsh mellows, if a couple of people in a canoe paddled by, the gators would vanish under the water until the canoers had passed then pop up for more marsh mellows. Even the birds and squirrels were tame and came right up to you begging for a snack.

I cried when we had to leave so my sweet hubby agreed to stay three more days, I could have stayed forever, it was so stress free. Generally if you stay out of their territory they stay out of yours, if not, exit the area immediately. I only encountered one aggressive gator and he was a two and a half foot long baby that swam right up to me when I was fishing, I popped him on the snout with the end of my rod and he stood up and hissed at me, so I vacated to the car until he went his way. I don't see them as a threat as they seem pretty predictable.

[GOPJ]

Stainlessbanner: My daughter drove down to Miami yesterday and on the drive saw four dead alligators that looked like they had been run over. She's made the drive many times - having lived in Miami for a number of years - and has never seen even one dead alligator. Either something scared the alligator out of the swamp (which I doubt) or something in the alligator's hard wiring changed - something like a whale beaching itself.

Then, a few months ago, another odd alligator story -- my family owns some houses on a large Florida lake - and for the first time in over twenty years - a large alligator climbed up the embankment and was wandering around the yard. It's not a small climb - and not a small yard. Gators have come up around the boat docks before, but never up the road to the house.

This is starting to have the feel of the problems with frogs a few years back. Could there be a new reptile virus? What do you think?

[Fintan]

An important safety tip...ALWAYS carry a roll of duct tape.

(And a can of WD-40)