CA: Biologist: Don't Take Chances With Errant Gator

LA Times ^ | 8/26/05 | John Spano, Times Staff Writer

[BurbankKarl]

Why haven't they shot this croc yet?

Stephen Stiegler is a wildlife biologist with the Florida Alligator Management Program, which oversees more than a million of the creatures.

His advice to Los Angeles: Don't take any chances with Reggie, the elusive, 7-foot gator roaming freely in a lake in a city park, eluding hunters, but capturing the hearts of some of the dozens of spectators who have watched the spectacle each day.

"We do tend to err on the side of public safety," Stiegler said. "If an individual calls and files a nuisance alligator complaint, we will issue a permit to have that alligator removed."

For weeks, Los Angeles officials have tried to trap the gator, named Reggie, who was released by his owner two months ago after he grew too big to control in a San Pedro yard. The man has been criminally charged.

[Justice]

ELUDING CAPTURE: The Lake Machado alligator cruises Monday in its urban bayou in Harbor City. (Robert Casillas / The Daily Breeze)

[stm]

I wonder if he has developed a taste for lib-tard meat

[MikefromOhio]

LOL

who put Lake Placid in the keywords?

[Justice]

This story is a real croc!!

[BurbankKarl]

[not_apathetic_anymore]

Reggie, who was released by his owner two months ago after he grew too big to control in a San Pedro yard

So releasing the gator into the neighborhood lake seemed like the thing to do?

[stm]

[BurbankKarl]

I did!

[359Henrie]

I think I need some new ZAPATO'S

[SteveMcKing]

They should release a huge shark to go eat him.

The shark should have a radio-controlled IED strapped to it's belly, so then they can kill it after it eats the alligator.

[BurbankKarl]

Then we could have Shark Week....

[Justice]

Shark loves alligator.

[musicman]

Sice I am still in (pre-school) in the FR html sandbox, this is my second post on FR that contains a pic....(If I just hang around here long enough, maybe I'll get to kindergarten html....)

My wife and I recently moved from 1000 ft off the ocean in Daytona Beach, to Ormond Beach Florida. This is an actual pic my wife took of our new back yard:

We now have 4 very mad doggies who can't figure out ( no matter how many times I try to 'splain it to them,) why they have a "fenced in" doggie area with a "view" of a big green back yard.....

[Jemian]

Surabaya

[Jemian]

Those chairs seem a little close to me, too. Gators can move surprisingly quickly on land.

[musicman]

"Those chairs seem a little close to me, too. Gators can move surprisingly quickly on land."

She took the pic from INSIDE of the Florida room in our house, (which is actually a second story room !!)

[spetznaz]

Nice sculpture. Where is it at (and if you know what is the story behind it)? As for crocs versus sharks it can be a very interesting tangle (although it almost never happens). While aligators would be easy shark chow, several large crocodile species would be the death of any shark stupid enough to attack them. And such shark-croc tangles have occured, even though they are rare. The only places it can occur (that I know of) are in Australia, where some of the large Salties (estuarine crocodiles, largest in the world) can encounter sharks. Since they can swim in salt-water such encounters, though rare, have occured. With the crocs winning.

The other place I know is in Africa, particularly on the Zambezi river, where Nile crocodiles (second largest in the world) occur. Now, there crocs are solely river creatures, so it would be expected there would be no shark encounters. However the Bull shark (which by the way has the most attacks on humans in the world) regularly swims up rivers .....up to 2,000 miles upstream in rivers around the world (eg the Zambezi in Africa, the Ganges in India, the Amazon in S.America, and in the US Bull sharks have been caught 1,750 miles up the Mississipi). Anyways, any Bull shark encountering a Nile crocodile will be croc meat ....very quickly. The Bull shark grows to around 7ft for males and 11 for females. However Nile crocodiles, especially the large ones, average around 15-16 feet, with truly large specimens clocking 18 feet.

I'm pretty sure that similar encounters in India, on the Ganges between Bull sharks and Mugger crocodiles (another large crocodilian), might have similar results.

Anyways, only a stupid shark would engage a crocodile. Too much risk for injury anyways (for the shark), especially if the croc was to get a hold of a fin and go on a death roll. And when it comes to large crocodiles it would be outright suicide.

Anyways, here are some pics of large crocodiles.

This one is a life-size sculpture of an African Nile crocodile on dry land:

The following are two pictures of Gomek, a large Australian Saltie croc:

The above two pics were of the real Gomek, but here is a life-size model of him:

And this is a Nile crocodile that was killed by the army in the African Congo.

[nuconvert]

WHOA! That's big!

[Sir Francis Dashwood]

Crocodiles are scary... damn...

What about hippos? Do crocs go after hippos? That is a celebrity death match in the water if there ever was one...