BoatBanter.com - Old boating hazard getting new attention in Florida

(NOYB, please keep you hands and arms inside the boat at all times.
We'd hate to see you lose your right wing) :-)

May 16) -- Alligators are the only suspects in the violent deaths of
three women in Florida in the past week, surprising wildlife experts
who say the giant reptiles typically aren't aggressive toward humans.

Until last week, there were 17 fatal alligator attacks in the state
since 1948, when recordkeeping began, says Florida Fish and Wildlife
Conservation Commission spokesman Willie Puz.

Puz and others don't know what incited the latest attacks, which were
unrelated and in different parts of the state, but cited a number of
possible factors, from mating-season surliness to dry weather shrinking
the gators' aquatic homes.

"When you have more predators in a place than you usually do and when
they're hungrier than they usually are, that's when you get unusual
behavior," says Frank Mazzotti, a wildlife scientist at the University
of Florida.

The body of college student Yovy Suarez Jimenez, 28, was found
Wednesday in a canal near Fort Lauderdale. Both of her arms were
missing. The state dispatched trappers, who captured and killed an
alligator that had two human arms in its stomach.

Judy Cooper, 43, was found floating in a canal 20 miles north of St.
Petersburg on Sunday. She had wounds consistent with alligator bites.

The most recent victim, 23-year-old Annmarie Campbell, died Sunday
while snorkeling in Ocala National Forest. Friends pulled her from a
gator's mouth, said Heather Danenhower, spokeswoman for Marion County
Fire-Rescue.

There are 1 million to 2 million alligators in Florida, Mazzotti says.
He says their population has remained relatively constant while the
human population has grown, reducing their habitat.

Mazzotti says the animals' habitat has been reduced further by a recent
dry spell, which has lowered water levels.

Warm weather and mating-season behavior also combine to make the
reptiles more active than usual.

"What we've seen is alligators behaving in an unusually aggressive
manner," he says.

Puz says the state's nuisance-alligator hotline has been getting more
complaints.

Trapper Todd Hardwick's business is up. He typically gets about four
alligator calls each day, but these days it's up to 15.

"People are shook up," Hardwick said just before capturing a 9-foot,
4-inch alligator Monday in a residential lake north of Miami. "It's
like the citizens of Florida have declared war on alligators. People
are really going crazy."

Vanessa Welter, spokeswoman for Visit Florida, the state's tourism
marketing organization, says she doesn't believe the attacks will
affect travel to the state.

Her safety advice: Never swim alone, don't feed alligators and don't
swim between dusk and dawn, when alligators are most active.

"Normally, they shy away from humans," Welter says. "They may be
crossing the line because they're desperate."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

5/16/06

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