Alligators everywhere! Please tell me you're kidding! (Tampa, Odessa: houses, to buy)

[CJFlorida]

Originally Posted by jessiesma

and the fact you might survive maimed. Some of the things you mention are also horrible but some of them seem like fun while you're doing them.
Death by alligator is pretty slow and you know it's happening. It's really dying by being tortured. So while the chances are slim, it's sure not a way I want to go.

The chances are beyond slim. Lots of ways to die are horrible...like getting caught in a trash compactor...and a million other things. This is a very dumb thread.

[Tarastomsgirl]

Originally Posted by robertpolyglot

I don't give a damn if alligators attacks are rare. The fact that I couldn't get near or in fresh water bothers me. And, if they think dogs are snacks, which they do, even less for me. Stay where it's nice and paved...and use the Gulf/Ocean, where you will look for fins instead.

This all brings up the May 2006 occurrence. You know, there was that girl in the Western suburbs of Miami taking her nightly jog that decided to get near, or slightly into, a canal to cool off. She didn't make it. The "visual" one gets is straight out of a scary movie or a National Geographic video.

Ohh I remember that, how stupid seriously... Well you can't escape the wildlife down there honestly .My husband was a 911 dispatcher in Collier county and got a call one day from a lady who let her dog outside (she lived in a wooded area) and called to say a cougar came and snatched up her little dog.. They got their the cougar was out back with the dog, well ehm what was left of the dog... There is crazy wildlife no matter where you are in Fla. I think its sanibel that is being overrun with iguanas. Or how about that snake they caught a picture of that tried to eat that alligator.. That was some wild crazy stuff huh! You just have to be careful and be smart.. screen in your porch and pool and you won't have to worry about anything but the little lizards and perhaps a snake if you have a small hole.. But none of the big reptiles

[jessiesma]

silliness is a great way to deal with visceral fears and the tension they cause.
Who needs to be serious and "real" all the time?

Originally Posted by CJFlorida

The chances are beyond slim. Lots of ways to die are horrible...like getting caught in a trash compactor...and a million other things. This is a very dumb thread.

[rtjr]

Gator At Tampa Park Eats Dog

By Neil Johnson of The Tampa Tribune
Published: February 12, 2008

TAMPA - An alligator that ate a dog at Al Lopez Park on Monday and was a regular sight for walkers was nowhere to be seen a day later.
Monday morning an alligator that stayed near a walking path past the park's South Pond grabbed a dog that got too close.
Emilio Lefler reached the pond moments later.
"The alligator had a dog in its mouth," Lefler said Tuesday morning. "You could see fur out the side of its mouth."
Lefler, 78, said he regularly saw the alligator either in the water a few yards from the asphalt path or sunning itself on a bank.
"That was a big alligator. When they say it was 8 feet, it was every bit of 8 feet," he said.
Osie Swanson of Tampa, who walks by the pond every weekday, also knew of the alligator but didn't worry about it.
"I figure if I didn't bother the gator, it won't bother me," she said.

Gator At Tampa Park Eats Dog

[algia]

I lived in FL for the last 6 years, soon to be 7, and have not seen ONE alligator yet! we lived in Fort Lauderdale which is known for having canals everywhere....and haven't seen one....I agree with Keeper, the Love Bugs......those SUCK big time! THEY ARE EVERYWHERE TWICE A YEAR.....AND I MEAN EVERYWHERE, can't see outside your windshield! mosquito's.

The only alligators I've seen were in Busch Gardens and Sea World.
I am sure they may be around in some waters....pond's etc....but it's not like you're going to stop for them to cross the street or anything like that......

[scorp200]

I was just going to post this...

I would be destroyed if a gator ate my dog

Originally Posted by rtjr

Gator At Tampa Park Eats Dog

By Neil Johnson of The Tampa Tribune
Published: February 12, 2008

TAMPA - An alligator that ate a dog at Al Lopez Park on Monday and was a regular sight for walkers was nowhere to be seen a day later.
Monday morning an alligator that stayed near a walking path past the park's South Pond grabbed a dog that got too close.
Emilio Lefler reached the pond moments later.
"The alligator had a dog in its mouth," Lefler said Tuesday morning. "You could see fur out the side of its mouth."
Lefler, 78, said he regularly saw the alligator either in the water a few yards from the asphalt path or sunning itself on a bank.
"That was a big alligator. When they say it was 8 feet, it was every bit of 8 feet," he said.
Osie Swanson of Tampa, who walks by the pond every weekday, also knew of the alligator but didn't worry about it.
"I figure if I didn't bother the gator, it won't bother me," she said.

Gator At Tampa Park Eats Dog

[scorp200]

Originally Posted by algia

The only alligators I've seen were in Busch Gardens and Sea World.
I am sure they may be around in some waters....pond's etc....but it's not like you're going to stop for them to cross the street or anything like that......

A former coworker had one leaning against her front door one day and she couldn't leave. I actually think this happened to her twice - they relocated it. I think she lives in Carrolwood.

[Keeper]

They are also in the lakes across the street from Al Lopez park in the business complex. I use to see one all the time sunning itself on the banks or trying to cross the road to the other lake.

I hate the fact that it got a dog but anywhere there is fresh water there is a chance there is going to be a gator. There are signs posted in the park about the gators so it shouldn't be a big surprise that they are in the lake.

[Chattanooga Girl]

Tampa woman mourns terrier eaten by gator

http://blogs.tampabay.com/breakingnews/images/2008/02/12/freddyfrey_2.jpg (broken link)TAMPA -- Freddy was a dog: a cairn terrier, to be precise. He was 5 years old and weighed about 19 pounds. He was running through Al Lopez Park Monday morning when he came upon an alligator.
Freddy, it could be said, was a brave dog.
He saw the alligator in a pond near the pedestrian trail, according to Cathie Schanz, operations manager for Tampa's parks department. He barked.
He jumped in the water.
And the alligator ate him.
His owner was Sarah Frey, 37, a manager for a salon-leasing company. She had Freddy since he was a pup. She was walking him in the park when he suddenly ran ahead.
She ran after him. By the time she got to the water's edge a few people had gathered. Somebody screamed.
"As I got close," she recalled, "a man just looked at me and said, 'He's gone.'"
State officials were attempting to have the alligator trapped and removed from the pond today. Frey said she cried for eight hours straight.
She was lonely without Freddy today.
"Everybody loved him," she said.
--Thomas Lake, Times Staff Writer

[Chattanooga Girl]

Ooops.. I was reading the paper online and saw this and remembered this thread.... sorry I didn't know it was already posted. But poor Freddy....