Did you get a post card yet? Photos? Ok spill.....where's the info coming from. We know you must have an inside source. Mrs. Gator put up bail??? :funn:Alligator on the beach (Photos)
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Did you get a post card yet? Photos? Ok spill.....where's the info coming from. We know you must have an inside source. Mrs. Gator put up bail??? :funn:
I heard that Dr. Phil is building him a new lake and that Oprah is going to review his book when he gets it written.
I was going to post earlier today that I was hungry for Bayou Bills' sauteed alligator (actually am, that's my fav) but thought that my comment would not be well received.
Not heard any confirmation, but hopefully he/she was indeed spared, and hopefully he/she isn't blind from being in salt water.
Alligator captured on South Walton beach
March 17, 2009 07:27:00 AM
Suzanne Preston / Florida Freedom Newspapers
www.newsherald.com
Beachgoers had more to view than sand and surf Monday morning as deputies from the Walton County Sheriff's Office cordoned off a stretch of beach at Ed Walline Park to corral a transient alligator in the surf.
The alligator was reported to the WCSO Sunday evening and beach deputies were dispatched early Monday morning. The alligator was stuck in the rip tide and rolled in and out of the surf, rarely making it to the beach.
View a photo gallery of the gator being captured and taken away.
Onlookers were kept a safe distance away and soon many people were gathered along the dunes to watch and take pictures.
As deputies waited for Justin Johnson, an alligator trapper with the Nuisance Alligator Program, they kept a close eye on the gator and navigated their vehicles to keep curious beachgoers at a safe distance.
Upon Johnson's arrival he and Sgt. Ryan Brown of the WCSO took to the beach and waited for the reptile to get close enough to harpoon.
"The harpoon doesn't penetrate enough to kill," said Johnson. "It gives me enough leverage to pull the alligator out of the surf."
When the alligator was approximately 30 yards from the beach, Johnson and Brown waded waist deep into the water, harpooned the alligator and with help from local charter fisherman, Jimbo Bishop who had been summoned to help if Johnson was unable to respond to the scene, pulled the alligator onto the beach.
On shore, the three men quickly muzzled the 7 ? foot alligator and Johnson tied its legs with electrical tape and secured it for transport.
The alligator didn't put up much of a fight.
"These gators can't take the salt water for long," Johnson said. "They can survive about seven days in the surf and this fellow has been swimming now for more than 24 hours; he's tired."
It took Johnson, Brown, Bishop and another deputy to lift the alligator into Johnson's truck.
"We're going to take him to a holding pen for now," said Johnson. "I'll have to find out if this alligator is going to be placed somewhere."
The Nuisance Alligator Program allows for some transient alligators to be relocated, usually if the alligator is shorter than four feet.
However, since this one was more than seven feet it's likely it will be killed.
"This is the first stray alligator of the season," said Johnson. "With it starting to warm up others will be on the move around the coastal lakes and we'll (the alligator trappers) be busy."
(Be sure to check out the capture photos in the link in this article.)
March 17, 2009 07:27:00 AM
Suzanne Preston / Florida Freedom Newspapers
www.newsherald.com
Beachgoers had more to view than sand and surf Monday morning as deputies from the Walton County Sheriff's Office cordoned off a stretch of beach at Ed Walline Park to corral a transient alligator in the surf.
The alligator was reported to the WCSO Sunday evening and beach deputies were dispatched early Monday morning. The alligator was stuck in the rip tide and rolled in and out of the surf, rarely making it to the beach.
View a photo gallery of the gator being captured and taken away.
Onlookers were kept a safe distance away and soon many people were gathered along the dunes to watch and take pictures.
As deputies waited for Justin Johnson, an alligator trapper with the Nuisance Alligator Program, they kept a close eye on the gator and navigated their vehicles to keep curious beachgoers at a safe distance.
Upon Johnson's arrival he and Sgt. Ryan Brown of the WCSO took to the beach and waited for the reptile to get close enough to harpoon.
"The harpoon doesn't penetrate enough to kill," said Johnson. "It gives me enough leverage to pull the alligator out of the surf."
When the alligator was approximately 30 yards from the beach, Johnson and Brown waded waist deep into the water, harpooned the alligator and with help from local charter fisherman, Jimbo Bishop who had been summoned to help if Johnson was unable to respond to the scene, pulled the alligator onto the beach.
On shore, the three men quickly muzzled the 7 ? foot alligator and Johnson tied its legs with electrical tape and secured it for transport.
The alligator didn't put up much of a fight.
"These gators can't take the salt water for long," Johnson said. "They can survive about seven days in the surf and this fellow has been swimming now for more than 24 hours; he's tired."
It took Johnson, Brown, Bishop and another deputy to lift the alligator into Johnson's truck.
"We're going to take him to a holding pen for now," said Johnson. "I'll have to find out if this alligator is going to be placed somewhere."
The Nuisance Alligator Program allows for some transient alligators to be relocated, usually if the alligator is shorter than four feet.
However, since this one was more than seven feet it's likely it will be killed.
"This is the first stray alligator of the season," said Johnson. "With it starting to warm up others will be on the move around the coastal lakes and we'll (the alligator trappers) be busy."
(Be sure to check out the capture photos in the link in this article.)
Promoted to front page.
Last year I posted that I saw Jessica Simpson at Bud and Alley's and the paparazzi contacted me for more info. Apparently, our gator and his story have a national appeal too.
A reporter contacted me and wants to know if he can utilize my photos and interview me for a story to run in the Washington DC area.
Without overanalyzing this I am inclined to give him whatever he wants.
That said, do you guys think this is contributing to what could end up being a story that could end up being harmful to tourism or at least that has the potential to scare masses of people?
Sharks, gators and snakes seem to bring out irrational emotions/fears.
Let me know your thoughts. I haven't responded yet to the reporter's request.
G
A reporter contacted me and wants to know if he can utilize my photos and interview me for a story to run in the Washington DC area.
Without overanalyzing this I am inclined to give him whatever he wants.
That said, do you guys think this is contributing to what could end up being a story that could end up being harmful to tourism or at least that has the potential to scare masses of people?
Sharks, gators and snakes seem to bring out irrational emotions/fears.
Let me know your thoughts. I haven't responded yet to the reporter's request.
G
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This is exactly how the media frenzy started around my cousin catching that 844 pound Mako a while back. It ran locally and, then, nationally. That's where it exploded.
I'm not saying the same will happen, but you might want to consider what might happen if the AP press runs with it...
I'm the reporter in question -- and a part-time resident in SoWal. I just think its unusual -- and a great image. The folks at the Daily News have already agreed to let us use their photos -- so this is gravy. But Really, Geo --you got the best pics.
I hope you'll agree to let me use them because it's a great, offbeat, item that people will talk abotu for a long long time.
bdub
I hope you'll agree to let me use them because it's a great, offbeat, item that people will talk abotu for a long long time.
bdub
National Geo-graphic
Geo...hold out for OK Magazine or National Geo-graphic.
You can really tell how big this gator is when he/she is on the back of that pickup truck. In one of the pictures it looks like he's getting handcuffed. I guess he really was.
Geo...hold out for OK Magazine or National Geo-graphic.
You can really tell how big this gator is when he/she is on the back of that pickup truck. In one of the pictures it looks like he's getting handcuffed. I guess he really was.
Bdub... as in BW.... as in Bob Woodward? Is Geo the next deepthroat? Just having some fun... Carry on!