|
Osprey Lakes Gator Invaders
May 12, 2006
Return to
Gator Invader Menu
 |
Although
alligators have regularly been spotted in
Osprey Lake,
recent activity has picked up and that the ones that have been
spotted are rather large. On March 27, 2004 a 9-foot 4-inch
gator was extracted from Osprey Lake. Click
HERE for that
story with photos.
At left,
a gator rests on an elevated portion of the lake bed. Three
other alligators could be viewed nearby when this photo was taken.
The gators were mating and feeding within a couple hundred feet of
Osprey Lakes residents' homes where children and pets play.
|
| Above, the profile
of the alligator is much more distinctive. While these
alligators are not known to have caused anyone any harm, having four
uninhibited large gators cannot be ignored. |
 |
To handle the alligator situation, an Osprey Lakes resident
contacted
Nuisance Alligator Trappers. As they did in March
2004, two highly trained licensed trappers responded quickly.
At left, the door of their truck identifies the trappers. |
|
To a passerby, it might appear that this trapper is really a
fisherman looking for Marlin with his big fishing poles and ready to
get down with his monster boom box.
In fact, the boom box plays a tape of a young alligator distress
call designed to lure
unsuspecting gators to its audio trap.
Click
HERE to listen to a young
alligator distress call. The females respond with an intention
to protect. The males respond because they sometimes eat their
own young.
|
|
 |
Click
HERE for more alligator sounds.
After the boom box has been set up to play Crocodile Rock
across the lake, Ron makes sure that his rod and reel are ready
for casting. I did not get the specifications on this gear,
but it is clear that we are not hunting catfish. |
| In the foreground
of the photo above you can see the top of the boom box in the grass
which is loudly playing gator talk. It works right away
because three alligators come to investigate as soon as it is turned
on. Two of the alligators can be seen in the photo. One
is in the upper right of the image. The other can be seen just
above the decoy duck. The duck is unrelated to the alligators.
It was installed to hold a pipe off the bed of the lake for
irrigation. Presumably the duck is more appealing to look at
in the lake than some other aquatic buoy. |
| The
second trapper sits still as until his comrade has hooked one of the
curious reptiles. I imagine his role too is to make sure
onlookers remain at a safe distance and abide by their advice to not
scare the prey away. |
 |
 |
Within
minutes a gator is caught and thrashes as it attempts to head back
into safer depths of the lake. |
| Once
hooked, the two trappers work together to bring the alligator on
shore. Alligators enter a trance state when positioned upside
down. The first trapper works to get the alligator in that
position while the second readies a lasso to place around its head
and neck. |
 |
 |
It's
not always easy to determine the length of an alligator until it is
viewed on land. Once roped with a device enabling the trapper
to keep a safe distance, this alligator is dragged on shore.
It is big, but not considered large by the trappers. The
trappers jokingly ask if we want it
released back into the lake. Pretty much everyone around yelled
"No Way!" at in unison. |
|
Ron holds the noose stick tight as he carefully approaches the
head (mostly of concern is the mouth) from the back. His goal
is to push down on the mouth and then tape it shut. |
 |
 |
The
majority of muscle strength in an alligator's mouth is to clench it
shut rather to open it. Only a couple of wraps around with
electrical tape is needed to overwhelm the alligator's ability to
open its jaws. |
| After
the mouth has been taped shut, the legs need to be tied back to
disable it much like handcuffs might be used to stifle a criminal's
ability to fight or flee. |
 |
 |
All
the while, Ron must also keep an eye out for the other
alligators. For the most part, the other gators have sensed a
danger and found refuge in the deepest parts of the lake, but the
trapper knows not to take anything for granted. |
|
Neighbors watch as the disabled alligator is dragged across the
flood trench and into our back yard. The destination is toward
the street and in the back of a pickup truck. |
 |
|
 |
At
left, Ron is located between our home and a neighbor's home.
You can see the legs tied behind the alligator so that it can not
resist the transport. Alligators less than four feet long are released in an
area far from homes. Alligators four feet in length or more
like this one are destroyed. Virtually every part sold to one industry or another for processing. |
| A few
days prior I had found this snake in our yard just a few feet away
from where the alligator is seen in the above photo. I was
cutting the grass and this fella was poking its head up from an
underground irrigation container where I knew my wife was going to
do some yard work soon. I tried to chase it toward the lake,
but it was not cooperative and it preferred to lunge at me instead. |
 |
| I really wish that
the snake could have understood English. It would have heard
me warn it not to make me mad. Needless to say, it ultimately
got to the lake anyway. I believe this was a somewhat harmless
Black Racer, but they can look a lot like poisonous Water Moccasins.
My sister-in-law and I agree that we are better off to assume that
all snakes are dangerous. Another neighbor two doors away
trapped and relocated a rattler that they found near their pool.
It has been unseasonably dry and the reptiles are on the move. |
 |
Without much it can do about it, this gator lies still in the pickup truck until it is
taken to the processor.
A cover that doubles as a ramp to winch larger alligators into the
bed of the truck is used to keep the alligator from the dry heat of direct
sunlight. |
| After
safely stowing the first catch, the trappers tried to use the same
tactic again to catch the others. Unfortunately, the remaining
three (or more) alligators had wised up and retreated. To
ensnare the larger alligators, trappers often hook a cow lung on a
rope and return at a later time to see if the bait was successful.
I can tell you that the lung is not only not pretty to look at, it
also smells really bad. (Yes dear, even worse than my socks.)
The trapper protects himself with a rubber glove to handle the lung. |
 |
 |
Ron chose a place near a sturdy bush to tie one end of the rope.
The other end was thrown into the lake. It was interesting to
see a school of fish go after the lung. The trappers said they
had not seen that before. |
| A
trapper lifts the cover in the back of their pickup truck to show
neighbors the alligator they trapped earlier. This is as close
to an alligator mom wants their children to ever get. |
 |
 |
I'll
post additional photos and story if we see more activity over the
next few days. In the meantime,
Gatorland is
a much underrated Orlando area attraction. It's actually a
very nice place to spend an afternoon and they have a lot more to
enjoy than just a pool of large hungry gators. The image at
left was taken at that location. |
|
Beautiful Photo
Art & NoteCards
Choose from over 270 different images at
|
|
