sandskeeter
Well-known member
I friend of mine from Ider caught a small one down at coon creek last year. I didnt believe him but his no nonsense wife backed him up on his claim..
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stump jumper
Well-known member
I wish they didn't have to shoot it but they are very difficult to move and transport. I wish they had tranked it instead but I guess we have to trust their judgement on this one. Fishing lake seminole growing up I have grown to respect them but not be afraid of them...they are everywhere down there and like Jmax said 99.99% of the time they are more scared of you. I do know of one game warden that was biten trying to remove one from the state park so that makes me understand better why they may have shot this one; inexperience in handling gators probably came into play.
rsimms
Well-known member
Pictures/story posted here:
http://www.chattanoogan.com/articles/article_103464.asp
http://www.chattanoogan.com/articles/article_103464.asp
TennesseeTalker
Well-known member
Goes back to human error. Why in the heck would someone choose a gator for a pet??? I'm not a PETA person ... but sometimes us people do a terrible disjustice to our earthly bound creatures. I learned that lesson myself when I had a Macaw Parrot .. somethings are not meant to be kept for prestige or exclusive pleasure. And if you tried .. and realized what a mistake it was .. consider the consequences of the animal when you just un-responsibility let it go.
Shame really.
TT
Shame really.
TT
TheFisherman
Well-known member
Well - a 5 footer is one thing - but there's pics on the internet going around about a 21 footer swimming around with a deer in its mouth, They killed it because it was so big that a human being would have been an easy meal. Keep 'em south of here as far as I am concerned. And sure, I believe you can get away with water sking in the day time out over the deeper water. But a gator doesn't look at you and say - oh, it's a human so I'll leave him alone. It looks at anything that moves as possible food. It's decisions are based on whether or not it thinks it can kill it and how hungry it is. Peta won't bother it either. I don't think I'd be swimming about in shallow water at night down in Florida. To me, that's akin to TWRA telling us the red wolf (which have been re-stocked in the Smokies) won't bother humans - we are not their natural prey. Most of the time they are right - you'll never even see one. But if you're a hungry wolf, and you smell blood because some hiker fell and injured himself and can't run away, I'm not so sure that holds true. I hope so, but who knows what a hungry animal will do. Have a healthy respect for wild life - even a cute little animal with defend itself.
polo-dog
Well-known member
I wonder how old Alvin got all the way up to Watts Bar. He usually stays right by my dock like a good gator should. Just kidding. I would expect that if a gator could find a spring that it could live through a winter up here. It is sad that someone had a gator like that as a pet and would let it get away or let it loose. There are lots of exotic species in Florida that live there and thrive. They do potentially throw off the balance of the natural predator/prey relationship.
My friend who owned a reptile store on hwy 58 told me alabama was only state that didn't have importation laws. Said he knew of importers dumping out numerous deadly reptiles including king cobras into the wild which he said thrived pretty well in the southern climate we have.
fischnrod
Well-known member
I can't believe they shot ole Fla. GATOR on his way to the U T game. Don't be so hard on the gators. THEY R GOOD! All the time he was thinking emoIdea this is a good rest area, i'll just stop here and take in some good ole Florida sunshine in Tennessee. emoSun emoSorry emoEnforce
G
Guest
Guest
Just a quick question? Why did they shoot it? I'm not a gator fan or anything, but I hate to see a animal killed needlessly. I was wondering why they didn't donate it to the aquarium? Don't they have a swamp area or something similar? I'm sure it was cheaper to shoot it but they have passed up an opportunity.emoScratch
HangnMoss
Well-known member
Once they hit sexual maturity (around six foot in length) male gators become territorial. Even if they tranquilized it, they may not have had the option of dumping it in with the rest at the Aquarium.
Triton4Bass
Well-known member
The Gator probably came out on the better side if he was headed to Knoxville, the Vols would have wore em out anyways! lol .... I don't really agree with killing the animal, but thats just my opinion!
