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Woman not afraid of grabbing life by the tail
By MARY JANE PARK ST. PETERSBURG -- Ardith Rutland has been known to gut toy animals, clean the hides and restuff the creatures. It's all in a day's work at the Christmas Toy Shop, the charitable organization that supplies Santa with refurbished bicycles and other gifts for needy children. But Ardith Rutland, alligator hunter? Believe it. The head and paws, as she calls them, of the 9-foot-long reptile she captured early this month are in cold storage at her son Thomas' business, Boss Hog Ribs in Pinellas Park. The meat is at a processor. How does the 71-year-old Rutland, whose name so often is associated with the gentilesse of charity events and appears in bold print in the "On the Town" column, explain this? "My boys talked me into it," she said of her nightlong adventure on Lake Manatee, where she and her late husband, Hubert "Bert" Rutland Jr., once had a cattle ranch. In 1966, after construction of the Manatee Dam, more than 1,500 acres of Rutland Ranch were flooded to form the lake. She and sons Bud and Thomas paid $250 each to enter the state's annual lottery for the public waters alligator harvest. All received their licenses; Mrs. Rutland was one of two people in the state assigned to the lake. "It was a beautiful night," she said of the outing on Oct. 5, "a beautiful night on the lake. The water was calm. My kids had a fit because we got Lake Manatee." Thomas Rutland accompanied his mother on the hunt. An accomplished harvester himself, he caught a 12-foot gator this season in the area near the Everglades for which his permit was issued. Years ago, Mrs. Rutland hunted dove and quail, and the Lake Manatee alligator was not her first. "When I lived at the ranch, we used to kill (alligators) all the time, and nobody thought anything about it. If an alligator was killing our calves, we killed it," she said. "We didn't gator-hunt before. We did it for self-preservation, for the animals." State law now requires that licensed hunters "spear 'em first. Then you shoot 'em," she said. "I know they've got to suffer with a spear in them. They fight like hell. But that's the way the state says you have to do it." To kill the animals, hunters use "bang sticks," pipes that fire after they hit their targets. "It's not like a gun with a trigger," Mrs. Rutland said. She doubts she'll take another alligator. "I'm getting too old. It took me several days to get over staying up all night," shining a flashlight on the water, looking for the red eyes of her prey. She doesn't much want to keep the head, but she might use the teeth to make necklaces for her grandchildren. She hopes to make a paperweight from one of the feet. To prepare the meat, she will saute it in oil, then simmer it in a wine sauce. She's still deciding whether to use red or white or perhaps even sherry. The Rutland family has long been associated with banking, retail and real estate holdings, not alligator hunting. Bert Rutland's father, Hubert Rutland Sr., wanted to start Rutland Bank in St. Petersburg, Mrs. Rutland said, and wanted Bert to take over the family's department store, a St. Petersburg fixture. "I tell you, I loved it down there. I lived there for three years," she said. Mrs. Rutland talks of retiring as head of the Christmas Toy Shop. The organization is scheduled to move into its new building next month, but she said it's getting tougher to get donations. She has a passion for things Scottish. Earlier this month, she sponsored a Scottish program at the St. Petersburg Woman's Club, and she often attends Highland Games events throughout the United States. "I want to smell the roses," she said.
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From the Times South Pinellas desks Dr. Delay Letters |
