Living with Gators
Passport to Texas from Texas Parks and Wildlife and the Sport Fish and Wildlife Restoration Program
With more alligators being spotted by the public in residential areas, you might think you’d be better off selling your home. The fact is… there’s no need to panic if and when you see a gator in your neighborhood.
We’re just trying to help people put it into perspective. People will begin to see more and more alligators in the future and not every alligator is going to be a problem.
Greg Creacy is a wildlife biologist with Texas Parks and Wildlife. He says horror movies and attacks by the more dangerous and non-native crocodiles have caused people to be afraid of Texas alligators.
The number of attacks by alligators in the United States each year is less than injuries and fatalities from dogs and scorpions and snakes and sharks…all of those are much more dangerous to people than alligators.
So what do you do if you see an alligator? Keep a safe distance from them and keep your pets away from them. Don’t swim in an area where there are alligators…and don’t feed them.
Because people have fed that alligator they’ve broken down their natural fear that alligators have for people.
And you know that’s not good. That’s our show for today…For information on living with alligators, as well as research reports and basic natural history, visit the Texas Parks and Wildlife Web site. Our show is produced with a grant from the Sport Fish and Wildlife Restoration Program.
For Texas Parks and Wildlife, I’m Cecilia Nasti.
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