Off-duty officer shoots, kills gator in his backyard

[pete f]

I keep hearing that number that gators never kill anyone. BS, every year two or three people get it, You find it in the papers, but that total of only 17 since 1948 never changes. My parents have had one nearly 14 foot long in the ponds of their community. many 5 to 7 footers.

To say that only a million or so live in florida is NUTS> that number is way short, I can take you to places only minutes from DT tampa and show you a hundred or more at one sitting. The population is getting rediculous, it needs to be thinned hard. It was great to see them come back from the unharnessed pressures of the late fifties and sixties, but Gator are in places now that historically they never were. Females can drop a hundred eggs or so at a time, it does not take many years for that number to replenish the supply.

 

[1911Tuner]

Gator Bait

gunsmith wrote:

>I think Komodo's kill their prey this way and gators drown their prey ...but I could be wrong<
*************

Correct on both counts...at least most of the time. Komodos have been known to kill on the spot just like the crocodilians...but the crocs and gators
grab, roll, and drown. Then...if it's too big to swallow whole, not having the jaw design for chewing, nor the teeth for tearing off fresh chunks, nor the throat size for large chunks...they stuff the carcass under a log or a hollow place in the pond, and wait a few days for it to rot so they can rip it apart and bolt it down like a raw oyster. Nice visual, huh? Nasty, nasty mouths...

 

[cbsbyte]

Actually this past weekend an Aunt who lives in Melbourne FL, had a small 3ft Gator suning itself on the driveway. A neigbour saw it and shooed it away with a broom. She does not live near any water, and its the first time she ever seen one that brazen, in 40+ years of living in FL. Before the incident, She thought the upswing in gator incidents was do to over reporting by the national media, she now believes there is a major problem with them in the state.

 

[1911Tuner]

Problem

cbsbyte wrote:

>Before the incident, She thought the upswing in gator incidents was do to over reporting by the national media, she now believes there is a major problem with them in the state.<
**************************

Yep. Denial is a powerful thing 'til it swims up and bites ya on the butt.

 

[kansas45]

We don't have Gator's In Kansas. Sometimes we will see a small one but The cold winter's kill them off. We have lot's of deer! Our Deer Hunting Law's have opened up A lot in the past 20 year's or so because they are a big nucience. How about your state giving you a little more lee-way to rid yourself's of that problem?

 

[Travis McGee]

1911 Tuner sure nailed it. Amen X 100.

 

[XDKingslayer]

Yep, Kimodo's actually use their bacteria ridden saliva as a means to kill. Gators don't, it's just a side effect.

Gators are going to take a backseat here shortly though. Right now Charlotte Harbor is so full of sharks it isn't funny. There are more sharks in the harbor than I have seen in 5 years. I can go out off the beach and catch dozens of them in a day.

I wonder if our waterborne ancestors are trying to take the place back?

 

[joab]

Call me crazy but ANY gator in my sunroom that's not stuffed and wearing a funny hat is likely NOT an invited guest.

And that is the crux of the situation with the old lady

The gator was no longer on her lanai (fancy word for screen porch) it had been pushed out into the yard with a broom and longer was an immediate or imminent threat.

The off duty officer was able to articulate that he was justified in shooting because there was an immediate threat.

The fines for the old lady would have been much greater just a few years ago, before we got tired of these poor defenseless animals and before more people discovered the real reason that gators were protected

 

[brufener]

On a different note than what people have been talking about, this officer provided a great example of how you should present your case to the authorities when you have a defensive shooting:

Knowles told officers that he had the gun for protection and did not intend to shoot the animal.

He said he was afraid the alligator would harm his children.

We can use the same arguments the liberals use on us - it's for the children!

 

[1911Tuner]

Crux

Quote:

>And that is the crux of the situation with the old lady

The gator was no longer on her lanai (fancy word for screen porch) it had been pushed out into the yard with a broom and longer was an immediate or imminent threat.<
*****************

At least not until it slithered over to the neighbor's and set up and ambush
in the kiddie pool or the Azalea bed.

 

[joab]

At least not until it slithered over to the neighbor's and set up and ambush
in the kiddie pool or the Azalea bed.

Then it would be the neighbors problem.
Once it had bitten off her leg the old lady probably could have gotten away with shooting one of our most cherished indigenous predators.

If we allowed all these scardy cat Yankees to shoot just any gator in their yard we would be back down to a couple million in no time.

Then theres the oh so likely chance that someone will mistake one of the thousand or so Florida crocodiles living in the Everglades for an alligator living in Orlando or Ocala

 

[Biker]

I learned something here. Although I knew that the Komodo's bite was very infectious, I didn't know a gator's bite had the same effect. I would've thought that being immersed in water most of the time would have a natural cleansing effect on the teeth. Well, don't see a lot of 'em in Idaho in any case.

Biker

 

[1911Tuner]

Gatormouth

Biker...Brings to mind a case that Kelie had in the ER last week. Homeless guy, age 30 with a dog bite on his hand that happened three days earlier. Gave the also homeless dog some water and tried to pet it after it drank. Snap. Smallish dog, maybe 35 pounds. Puncture wounds not very deep. His arm was swollen to near bursting the skin, and his fever was in the 105 range. Diagnosis: Septicemia; Entire system poisoned, kidney failure in initial stages. Odds that he'll die are about 75% at last report. She'll know more when she goes on tomorrow at 1900 hours.

Any bite is dangerous. Don't take it lightly.

 

[Biker]

Yup, I've been seriously dog bit trying to break up fights between my own dogs. It wasn't intentional on their part, but I got between them. In any case, I wore a needle 24/7 in a vein on my right hand for five days so I could go into the hospital twice a day for IV anti-biotics. I don't recall what it was called - a splint? Can't remember, but it got old quick.

Biker

 

[1911Tuner]

Bit Biker

Biker...That was probably a shunt. It's for drainage of an infected wound.

 

[Biker]

That's it! Twice a day I had to go to the ER and they'd hook me up to a bottle and drain some stuff into me. After 5 days, my skin had begun to grow around it and it kinda....sucked when they pulled it out.
Oh well.

Biker

 

[KINGMAX]

Selective enfocement again - what do you think ???

I wonder if he has a 'BLUE STRIPE' decal on his wife's car. I see a lot of those pass me right on by. Selective enforcement - indeed :banghead:

 

[CSA 357]

bears, mountain lion, gaters, kina makes you wonder what you got your cwp for dont it?*csa*

 

[06]

S S S same goes for ANY predator or threat to life or limb. To h--- with PETA or their clones. Got jumped on at another site for saying that I would kill a bear on my property whether he was threatening me or not. The next day I sent them the story about the bear killing a woman. Next day one about the latest 'gator killing. Then dug up the one about the cougar killing last year in Alabama. Quieted them a bit after that. I keep a shovel in the Jeep-right next to the "trunk gun".

 

[XDKingslayer]

A bear standing in your yard sniffing your roses is a big difference than a lady being mauled by a bear.