At first, the two don't seem to have anything to do with one another. But I've been fall cleaning, scrubbing, polishing, mopping, vaccuming, bleaching, washing ... all weekend. Then this morning's paper reminds me that there are plenty of places that are dirtier than Chez GMLc was. The inside of an alligator, for one. Too bad somebody could not have wrestled that sucker out of the water and gotten that guy's arm free before the critter swallowed it.Yeccchhhhhh! If you have a strong stomach, go to the photo gallery at charleston.net. Warning: Photo of alligator with man's arm in mouth.
For the record, 11 feet, 10 inches is a huge alligator. The state record is around 13 feet and its articulated skeleton is at the Edisto Interpretive Center on Edisto Island.
Comming so close to the incident at Lake Moultrie, I can understand the negative feelings people are having about alligators at this time. What happened to that man's arm is tragic, but the alligator was only reacting naturally. People are not on their menu.
I just wanted to comment about the "Gator Granny" piece. I see how pround she is, but killing anything is not something to be proud of, in my opinion. I am upset for the two large alligators, who probably never caused a peep of trouble. They were just there, like posing for a picture when they were killed.
Killing a creature that is probably 80 years old, is a true pity. How old would he have been when he died of natural causes? We'll never know about that one, anyway.
I do understand the reason for killing and harvesting the "Nusiance Alligators." We do have to right to protect ourselves, if the danger is real. Just having a gator living in a local pond is no reason to panic and call the authorities.
I think we should try harder to let alligators live long and healthy lives without some timid tax-payer having the animal killed "just in case." They were here first --- millions of years first!
Posted by: "gator friendly | October 15, 2007 at 12:53 PM