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Date Posted: 00:45:39 08/17/05 Wed
Author: Tink *~*~*
Subject: Sanibel on TV - Aligator Attacks

My SIL came running upstairs a few hours ago to let me know that a television program was about to start, all about alligator attacks on Sanibel Island. I think it was a National Geographic program. Anyhow, they told of three alligator attacks, the first of which occurred on September 11th, 2001, while the world's attention was turned elsewhere. The man was killed while walking his dog. The second attack was on an elderly woman who was attacked from behind and dragged in backwards. Her husband came running and somehow pulled her out of the water.

There was special emphasis on the third attack, which was on the poor woman gardner who succumbed only last year. Survived the attack, only to be taken out by a bacteria that flourishes in ponds and targets vertebrates. The alligator's teeth had made such deep and severe wounds, the bacteria had an easy in, and that's how she died. I was on the island last year on the day of her funeral, and saw the line of cars going up Periwinkle toward the causeway.

The TV program also pointed out that up until the gardner was attacked last year, Sanibel had different policies toward alligators than the rest of the state of Florida. The rest of the state had a policy that a 4 foot or longer alligator who was considered a nuisance would be put to death. On Sanibel, they would be removed from their environment and brought to the refuge. The problem with that is that the refuge waters are connected to all the other waterways, and eventually, that alligator or others can find their way back into residential neighborhoods.

People who live there were interviewed, and I think I saw the parking garage at Jerry's in the background. One woman said that her family had made a lifestyle change, in that they no longer use their backyard. I don't know why they don't just put up a cyclone fence, same as the Condos at Blind Pass has done.

Because of last year's attack, the City of Sanibel changed it's policy, and is now in line with the rest of the state of Florida. Hunters were allowed to come into the residential waters, and within a very short time, they'd removed over 80 alligators, selling their skins (this is apparently how they make their living).

The program didn't mention how many alligators live on Sanibel, but estimated that there are over a million of them living in the state of Florida. There are 17 million humans living there.

Anyone interested in seeing this program might want to check their local listings for a rerun, or else check the National Geographic website and search on "Sanibel".

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