Game Warden Drags, Kills Alligator(on a Houston suburb's residential street-on video)

Channel 2 Pseudo-News website ^ | 4/29/03 | Channel 2 sleazeball tabloid newsroom

[Diddle E. Squat]

Game Warden Drags, Kills Alligator Katy Residents Angry Over Gator's Death

POSTED: 8:47 a.m. CDT April 29, 2003 UPDATED: 11:04 a.m. CDT April 29, 2003

KATY, Texas -- Some Houston-area residents said they were upset Monday at the way a Texas Parks & Wildlife Department game warden got rid of 9-foot alligator in their neighborhood.

Residents told News2Houston that they called authorities after discovering the gator Thursday in the middle of a road in the 22000 block of Lodgestone Court in a Cinco Ranch neighborhood in Katy.

Witnesses recorded the gator's capture on videotape, in which the game warden was seen tying the animal to the back of his pickup, and then dragging it down the street while children and parents watched.

"It was very inhumane," resident Lara Mercadante said. "It was awful. It was absolutely unreal. If you weren't here you would not believe that it happened. We never thought that it was going to end up the way it did."

The game warden then took the alligator to the end of the street, and shot and killed it, authorities said.

TPWD officials said that although it is not typical practice for their officers to tow a live alligator behind a truck, they believe that the game warden followed what he felt was the most effective course of action.

However, officials said that as of a result of the incident, they are now reviewing their policies regarding nuisance alligator removal.

[freeeee]

What would have happened if that Big Gator was hungry, looking for something to Eat and it Grabbed one of the Children or "Adults" on the street?

Once the gator was tied to the pickup, it was no danger to anyone. That is unless the gator is going to pull the pickup truck around with it.

This issue is what happened after the gator was tied up. There is a proper method for removing gators (see post #51) and dragging it down a paved road isn't it.

He was alone, no help...and had a Nine Foot Gator to deal with

100% unnecessary. There is no shortage of private services that will provide ample manpower to professionally remove the gator. And it won't cost the taxpayer a cent, because they are paid with the gator carcass.

Or, we can use tax money pay a government employee to do a second rate job. Once the gator was tied to the truck the game warden was no longer needed.

[waterstraat]

Where is the best place to shoot an alligator? Isnt the skull real thick and hard? is an eye shot the best bullet placement?

[annyokie]

Agreed, see ya later, alligator.

[eddie willers]

My mama was a big Tom Jones fan

I was a big Tony Jo White fan.

[Search4Truth]

That's better. Thanks. :)

[is_is]

" Here in Georgia, Game officers will call in professional trappers to capture nuisance gators."

I looked in the Houston Yellow pages for a classification for"Professional Gator Trappers" and to my suprise....THERE'S NOT ONE THERE!!!

Gotta go with the Game Warden on this one.....

[annyokie]

Proper pronunciation "poke sallit" ;)

[annyokie]

Better, more authentic version, that's fo' sho'. I always wondered what a Welshman was doing singing that song anyway.

[proud_2_B_texasgal]

The pleasure was allll mine, sir.. **wink**

[Search4Truth]

"Where is the best place to shoot an alligator? Isnt the skull real thick and hard? is an eye shot the best bullet placement?"

Between the eyes or top of the head, depending on your angle. Usually with a handgun of high caliber at near point blank. You need to kill it with the first shot, otherwise mayhem will ensue. You don't want to be near a gator that is in its death throes.

[HoustonCurmudgeon]

Yup. There goes the neighborhood...

NO, NO we like you, just got to get y'all on the gator killing bandwagon! ;-)

[HoustonCurmudgeon]

If the alligator had to be destroyed, so be it. I would think they would have tried to relocate it, though. Dragging the gator on its belly was wrong. If the game warden couldn't handle the gator, he should have called for back-up and waited--and told the soccer moms to round up their kids, dogs and cats and get off the street.

Just a question here, backup from who? We have 254 counties in Texas, you want to quess how many game wardens we have?

[PLMerite]

Maybe she should have volunteered to help the Warden carry the 'gator down the street, or at least load it into the truck.

I give the guy credit for getting the 'gator away from people before shooting it, I can imagine the hew (sp?) and cry if his shot had gone astray and injured someone.

Too many people think reality should be like a Disney movie.

[HoustonCurmudgeon]

The only native Texans living in Katy are the kids.

Good point ... how do they feel about gators?

[jimt]

Now, my six-foot quarterstaff could have been very handy . . .

According to the web, an alligator that size can accelerate to 30 mph very quickly, for short distances.

Sure you want to go poking it with a six foot stick?

[freeeee]

backup from who? We have 254 counties in Texas, you want to quess how many game wardens we have?

You don't need a game warden. Our county, (in Florida) allows licensed private individuals to keep the gator carcass in return for removing a nuisance gator.

This is lucrative, as large gators are worth hundreds of dollars in meat and skin. Once government gets its mits out of the equation and opens up the opportunity to make money, the market will provide adequate services.

And this is even cheaper than hiring a game warden to do a half @$$ed job. It doesn't cost the taxpayer anything.

[annyokie]

"I give the guy credit for getting the 'gator away from people before shooting it, I can imagine the hew (sp?) and cry if his shot had gone astray and injured someone."

People like this woman are impossible. If he had shot the gator there, it would have "traumatized" the chirren. If he had trussed it up, as a previous poster mentioned, he would have been making the gator "uncomfortable". Next time a nine foot gator shows up on her street, why doesn't she try to tempt him with a peanutbutter sandwich to get him to climb into the back of her Saab so she can personally drive him back to the pond?

[Search4Truth]

"This is lucrative, as large gators are worth hundreds of dollars in meat and skin. Once government gets its mits out of the equation and opens up the opportunity to make money, the market will provide adequate services. "

Does this mean that you would allow these businesses to dispatch these animals the safest and most expedient way possible, or would you impose regulations on those businesses on how they go about dispatching these animals?

[wardaddy]

LOL...gators....pea brained killing machines with cold blood and zippo conscience and folks are hand wringing over 'em like they are baby lambs or puppies...geez.

Do you folks get out of yer cars/trucks and say prayers for all the bugs you killed with yer front grill on yer way to Wild Oats for groceries?


Sensitivity kills me...lol....I had a 12 foot bullgator tear my front bumper off my truck near Camden Alabama one night long ago on a red clay road. Why? because he din't like the color of the truck I guess???

You folks need to go see Jurassic Park again.....or Faces of Death I...sweet little ol gators..lol

Thanks Steve Irwin....you've done more for Gaia than you'll ever know.

[WSGilcrest]

What would Steve have done?