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Posted on 01/03/2005 11:22:04 PM PST by Dan from Michigan
12-Foot, 400-Pound Gator Captured in Miami
2 hours, 51 minutes ago Strange News - AP
MIAMI - A 12-foot alligator weighing more than 400 pounds and described as among the largest ever caught near downtown Miami was hoisted from a creek Monday by a firetruck.
The alligator was discovered in Wagner Creek, about 16 miles from the Everglades, in the shadows of two major hospital complexes and around the corner from the Veteran's Affairs Medical Center, a court house, a county jail and government office buildings.
It was "about the last place you'd expect to see an alligator of any size," said licensed trapper Todd Hardwick. Alligators are much more common in suburban canals and lakes.
Hardwick and others wrapped a rope around the middle of the gator and attached the other end to a ladder fire truck, which hoisted the reptile out of the water, over a 4-foot fence and a row of parked cars.
Then Hardwick and two wildlife officers sat on the gator while an assistant secured its jaws shut with duct tape. "He used the entire roll," Hardwick said.
The spectacle attracted a crowd of more than 200 and forced the city to temporarily close the street, he said.
The alligator likely swam downtown years ago, when it was smaller, and lived the canal system draining the Miami Civic Center, emerging only to snatch raccoons and opossums from the bank, Hardwick said.
But most of the food was delivered straight to the gator. Hardwick said the reptile likely grew fat on carcasses of animals tossed into the creek as religious sacrifices.
"They farm-raised this big boy on Santeria and voodoo," Hardwick said.
Under Florida law, the alligator cannot be returned to the wild because it might try to return to the same canal. Because of its size, Hardwick said he will try to find a farm, zoo or other facility to keep it in captivity. Otherwise, the gator will be destroyed.
BTW - Source is AP
Yet another side effect of the idiocy of "respecting diversity"...
"around the corner from the Veteran's Affairs Medical Center, a court house, a county jail and government office buildings..."
What food did he get ?
does gator taste like... CHICKEN???? [BP~~
Wait... has it voted?
RECORD SHARK CAUGHT IN NOVA SCOTIA (Image may be disturbing to small children)
That doesn't look like 12 feet of aligator. I don't mean to say it doesn't command much resspect but it isn't just THAT large.
Was he spotted at the Peach Bowl? Probably a nose tackle.
Is that Janet Reno's pickup truck?
"Is that Janet Reno's pickup truck?"
Yes, and it's one of her close relatives in the back :-)
We live on a golf course in the Tampa Bay area.
A few years ago, after the carcass of a dog was seen floating in the water hazard (small lake) on the fairway in front of our hosue, they trapped a gator (we have lots of gators in these lakes but they only trap them if they become a nuisance, i.e. kill a dog, charge at a golfer, etc.)
Anyway, it was 10 ft, 6 in. long. The trappers didn't seem to think that was particularly big. I know we have 13 footers in the lake near us, it is adjacent to a park and they bask on the bank many times. The rangers in the park say that they encounter many 12 and 13 foot gators on a regular basis.
Perhaps the fact that this was in an urban setting, and not suburbia, made it of interest.
I like them far better as an endangered species.
SHOOT. SHOVEL. SHUTUP...
"They farm-raised this big boy on Santeria and voodoo," Hardwick said.
Surprise surprise. Hopefully no human sacrifice victims --- but you never know.
Speaking of Tampa, I will be down for the Super Bowl.
I was thinking about you, my father lost his dock on Christmas due to that big storm. How did you fare?
That was one heck of a surprise storm.
I woke up at 4 and the wind was blowing as hard as during any of the hurricanes. I woke my husband up so we could move our cars out of the driveway (they sit under big oaks) and move them onto the rough on the golf course where there is less chance of tree damage.
Then I called my sister and BIL (they only live a couple doors down to warn them) because they have lots of pool and porch furniture out. They were already awake taking care of the problem.
I checked the weather bulletins, and then came on FR at about 4:30, lots of other folks were checking in.
We had no damage, but lots of debris. Folks Christmas garbage that they had already set out was blowing everywhere. The big plastic bins were no match for the wind, and they blew over and stuff was everywhere.
Sorry about your Dad's dock. They said there were 10 foot seas along with the wind.
That dock went through all those hurricanes and it's the Christmas Storm of 2004 that blew it all away. Such a bummer. I need that dock to properly watch the dolphins, you understand. :)
My sister and BIL have a vacation home on the Withalacoochee River up near Brooksville.
The house never floods because it's on a large tract of land and set back from the river. But during the summer, after the hurricanes filled the Green Swamp (which feeds that river) the water level rose significantly.
My BIL was so happy because it looked like his dock that he had laboriously built a couple years ago, when the river was low, had stayed in place.
But once they let boat traffic back on the river, they found that the dock had actually come off it's moorings and the wake from the boats sent the entire fence back through their gates and fence and up into their yard.
He'll have to wait till the river gets low again to replace it.
So I know what you mean about missing a dock, they provide great vantage points.
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