Alligators: Central to Florida’s identity

Nick Wiley, Executive Director of Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation said, “Disney has been very proactive with regard to dealing with alligators and, as the sheriff said, full time staff observing these waters”.

The state received 13,962 calls about nuisance alligators in 2015. Another 7,406 alligators were hunted throughout Florida in 2014.

Three decades later, alligator populations were fully recovered, “making it one of the first endangered species success stories”, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Each approved hunter receives a permit and two tags for their alloted kills.

“When people have been feeding alligators you run into issues”, Peacock said.

That said, alligator attacks happen more often than once a year; they just aren’t always fatal. Florida is home to more than 20 million people and 1.3 million alligators. “In reality, they’re very, very shy by nature”.

To avoid an encounter with a gator, wildlife experts said people must never feed them – it’s risky and also illegal in the state of Florida.

While alligators tend to flee humans, animals that become accustomed to human presence could become confident and bold, Ross said.

That’s true not just for alligators but also for bears, big cats, “anywhere there has been a successful recovery program”, Mazzotti said.

That’s why Florida has strict laws about not feeding alligators or crocodiles, punishable with a fine or even jail time. “That might be able to get them to release you”, Magill said. “I’ve seen people give them raw chicken”. In fact, bees, wasps, hornets, dogs and even cows kill more Americans each year than alligators – or even sharks – do. Alligators can reach speeds of 25 miles per hour, so you are only going to slow your escape if you do not run straight, as fast as you can, away from an alligator. “They’re the ones that will come on the river bank right where they see the people are sitting”.

Wildlife experts caution that the best approach in the face of such a tragedy is to educate the public on the dangers lurking in Florida’s waters and how to avoid coming into contact with alligators.

Scott Vuncannon of Marsh Landing Adventures makes his living off alligators and tourists. Tammy Sapp, Hunting and Game communications officer for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation commission, said alligators can be found in any still body of freshwater including man-made water structures. “Go further away from it, and never feed alligators”, says Bond.

“When kids start moving around, they splash – it’s like a distress call, that something is in distress, and the gators will move in”, Nesci said.

The activities of victims at the time of attack in the Florida cases were distributed as follows: 17.4 percent were related to trying to capture/pick up/exhibit the animal; 16.7 percent involved swimming; 9.9 percent involved fishing; 9.5 percent related to retrieving golf balls; and 5.3 percent involved wading/walking in water. “Although alligators can move quickly on land, they are not well adapted for capturing prey out of the water”.

They eat by biting and do not swallow the prey in its entirety. James Okkerse was killed while snorkeling in Blue Spring Run in Orange City.

Despite so much attention to the danger of alligators, the likelihood of being killed by one is statistically low.

In 2016, there have been two incidents reported with one confirmed fatality. The last fatal alligator attack on record prior to this year occurred in 2007.

Marchetti said a majority of alligator attacks that do occur are nonfatal and a case of “mistaken identity”, where the alligator does not know it’s attacking a human.

“As more people are drawn to the water, more alligator-human interactions can occur, creating a greater potential for conflict”, writes the commission.