SC6 Lake update - keeping the neighborhood safe
When a neighbor alerted us about seeing an alligator in the lake on the evening of Thursday May 4th, we called the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) Nuisance Alligator Hotline and reported the alligator the next day.
'Nuisance wildlife' in Florida is defined as wildlife that:
Causes or is about to cause property damage
Presents a threat to public safety
Causes an annoyance within, under, or upon a building
Alligators rarely attack humans but we just can't take any chances of having someone lose a pet or child at the lakeside, so our loch ness monster has to go! By the way, May is alligator mating season, which is a time when male gators become especially aggressive.
Trapper Jimmy
The same day, FWC dispatched Jimmy, a licensed alligator trapper, to our neighborhood to find and remove the alligator. If you look closely at the photo, you can just see the gator to the right of the tip of Jimmy's fishing rod.
Fly fishing?
To my surprise, Jimmy pulled out his fishing rod and began casting at the alligator. Jimmy says he catches 95% of his alligators this way. I never would have guessed that.
After several tries, Jimmy was unable to 'HOOK' the gator and thought he would try another method that was successful only three other times in his long career of catching gators. He pulled out a hook with a deer lung attached and cast it out toward the gator, who seemed a little interested. When the bait got too close to shore, Jimmy cast it out a second time toward the gator, who continued to be interested. But the wind and small tugs on the line to bob the bait caused the bait to float back too close to shore again.
Jimmy cast the bait a third time toward the gator and was able to get it very close. To our amazement, the gator moved slowly toward the bait and grabbed it. I could see the fishing line unwrapping from the spool as the gator ran off with a little snack. He must have been very hungry.
At that point, Jimmy handed me the rod to reel him in and started to explain to me all of the things that could go wrong in this situation. But, to our amazement, we were able to reel him in to shore without any flipping, rolling, or much of a fight at all. Once at the shoreline, Jimmy used another hook set behind the back leg and I wrapped the rope around his head and together we pulled the gator from the lake and dragged him across the yard to the street.
Jimmy tied the gator's hands and feet behind his back as if he were under arrest. I guess, in a sense, he was. Jimmy also wrapped tape around the gator's mouth and eyes. I have never been that close to a gator before. It was incredible. I could see him breathing in and out very long breaths of air and watched his lungs expand out and contract. His skin felt very smooth and strong, not at all slippery, or rough like a dolphin. His colors were amazing. He looked so prehistoric. His hands and feet were a cross between falcon talons and human fingers but with webbing between the fingers and having long fingernails.
Here's a video clip when we had the gator at the shore.
Here are additional videos of the gator getting tied up for a nice ride in the back of Jimmy's truck. In the third video, you can see that we just barely had him hooked. If the gator would have given me any kind of fight at all, I'm sure that hook would have pulled out and we would have lost him.
FWC's policy regarding nuisance alligator extraction is 'no charge' to the community. The trappers make their money by selling the alligator in many various forms on the open market for their skin, meat, teeth, or other gator products. Jimmy explained to me that he will sell the gator ALIVE because he can fetch three times the price compared to a dead gator. So, our loch ness friend is destined for a new location where he will be well cared for, make lots of new friends, and live a long and happy life! No gator jerky or loafers today.
What an evening! This will go down in the books as a legendary event of a lifetime the grandkids will hear about. So, the next time you see an alligator, you know who to call. No, not me. Call 866-FWC-GATOR and maybe Jimmy will come out and snag another gator.
Thanks for being a member of the Southchase Parcel 6 community!
Also, our HOA could be legally liable if they know about the gator (which they did) and don't have it removed. Our Board did the right thing.
Alligator Liability at Your Association? What You Need to Know by Gregory W. Havemeier, Senior Vice President
Anyone who has ever lived in Florida knows that alligators are a pervasive feature in communities throughout the state. Florida is alligator country. There are 1.3 million wild alligators. That is roughly one for every 15 residents. Alligators may occur anywhere there is water—lakes, ponds, rivers, marshes, swamps, and even man-made canals. Although almost exclusively a fresh-water species, they have been found in brackish and salt waters.
The recent tragic incident involving a young child at…
Wow, a "nuisance" gator simply for living in his own environment and doing his own thing? Hadn't bothered anyone? Where is he supposed to live? So just for him existing, you did this to him .....what a shame! And you seem so proud of yourself for doing so. This is Florida, if there's a lake then there's a gator. How pitiful that people can't leave things alone.
We were feeding the ducks on our walks and they seemed to look forward to our visits. But, lately, there's been very few ducks, oftentimes none. I know there's the circle of life, but I do hope the gator didn't get them.
Wow! How exciting! Thank you for keeping our community safe!