That was my point... I guess I could have phrased it better.
I would imagine most California state police officers have never seen an alligator in person and wouldn't have a clue what their 'normal' behavior is. When they see one, they think, "kill it before it kills me."
So, several states were wiped off the map, stores were looted to the bare walls cops emptied car dealerships and they want to spend time investigating someone shooting an alligator? Probably give more manpower to this than if it would have been a human that was shoI was in NO about a month ago. Got a t-shirt that says;
I STAYED IN NEW ORLEANS FOR KATRINA AND ALL I GOT WAS THIS LOUSY T-SHIRT.... and a new Cadillac, a plasma TV......
Exactly. I could see that happening. Also, we were taught pretty early on in LA that messing with alligators is highly illegal. I doubt those guys had a clue about that. One of my alligator storys: About 10 years ago, my former roomate Steve and I were hunting and came across a 5 foot alligator. Steve decided that we needed this guy for our pond at home. Well, we chased this thing for 30 minutes, trying our best not to let him get back in the river, until we finally got him cornered against a small embankment. That was not a happy alligator. We managed to catch him using a ski rope, a small cargo net and a tree limb. I learned that a 5 foot alligator is very strong. So we get him in the back of Steve's truck and head home. We managed to get him all untangled but that left him free in the truck bed. To get him out all I had to do was poke that limb at him and he grabbed on and did not let go until I had dragged him out of the truck onto the ground. He then made a bee-line for the pond. Needless to say, the ducks took off and we didn't see them for a few months. A month or so later, I'm reading the paper. What do I see on the front page? Some Wildlife and Fisheries guy posing with "my" alligator on the front page. Evidently, he decided to go on walkabout and got informed on by one of our neighbors. In the paper, the W & F guy said the alligator had gotten to our neighborhood through a series of creeks and channels that lead to the river. Thank goodness because we could have gotten in a LOT of trouble for that. Anyway, that's one of my "hold muh beer" Southern boy stories. Sadly, I have many more. :)