Lake's gators seen as threat have their supporters
While some fear that a St. Petersburg lake is overrun, others don't want the reptiles removed indiscriminately.
By LAUREN BAYNE ANDERSON
Published November 1, 2004
ST. PETERSBURG - People are usually happy when trappers remove alligators from their neighborhood.
But when Chris Carpenter pulled three 10- to 12-foot alligators out of Lake Maggiore recently, he sparked protests from park volunteers, some neighbors and a City Council member, who say too many gators have been removed.
"I saw them take two big ones out of there, and it was senseless," said James White, who lives across from the lake and typifies a "live and let live" attitude shared by many residents. "I see the alligators every day, but they never come past the grass."
Carpenter, on the other hand, said the lake is so overrun it's only a matter of time before someone is attacked. He said he was trapping gators in response to some neighborhood complaints. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission maintains that no alligators have been unnecessarily removed from the lake.
"It's so bad, we put our boat out there, and 25 to 30 9-foot-plus alligators were coming toward the boat" during the hour he spent on the lake, Carpenter said. "That's unheard of - it's one of the worst lakes I've seen."
Carpenter runs his own business, Animal Capture of Florida, and was hired by Fish and Wildlife to remove gators.
At Lake Maggiore, which borders Boyd Hill Nature Park, alligators are often seen close to the shore, floating with their eyes and snouts above the surface. On warm afternoons, the reptiles sun themselves on the grass and sometimes even venture onto the street. In the evenings, the alligators are even more active.
In the past six months, two residents on Pallanza Drive S logged complaints with the Fish and Wildlife Commission. All that separates the homes on Pallanza from the lake is a 3-foot stretch of grass and a paved road without sidewalks.
It's on that street, where Salt Creek feeds into the lake, that only weeks ago Carpenter bagged a 12-foot alligator, his largest yet.
But most residents on the street say the alligators don't bother them.
Stan Singletary, who has lived in the neighborhood for 20 years, said he sees the gators every day. Singletary said sometimes a group of alligators has come closer when they've seen him. But for the most part, they keep to themselves.
"They'll take an angle and come toward you if they think you're going to get in the water," Singletary said. "But usually they'll leave if they see you coming; you respect them, they'll respect you."
Megen Williams is one of the few who don't agree. She has lived across from the lake for four years with her daughters, aged 6 and 13. Williams said she became alarmed only recently, after alligators approached her youngest daughter, who was walking down the street.
"I saw three alligators swim up close toward her," she said. Williams now fears for her daughter's safety outside.
Greg Coston, a park ranger at Boyd Hill, said the alligators don't usually approach adults but might approach children.
"Small children do need to be supervised because the animals don't see them as a threat," Coston said. Pets also are vulnerable. Since May, two dogs in the area were attacked by alligators.
When alligators are fed, they lose their fear of humans and will often begin to approach in search of more food.
That's when the alligator becomes a nuisance and Fish and Wildlife can issue a permit to capture it. In Florida, it is illegal to feed alligators.
Carpenter said he responded to 600 complaints in Pinellas of nuisance alligators last year, and he captured about a third.
While park officials say it is impossible to tell how many alligators are in the lake, the population across the state has grown substantially.
In 1967, alligators were placed on the threatened species list after the population dropped from millions to its lowest point, 200,000. The population flourished and in 1988, hunting with a permit was reinstated.
Trappers keep the gators they catch and the animals can bring in hundreds of dollars when their meat and hides are sold.
Pam Smolik, a member of the board of directors for the Friends of Boyd Hill Park, said there is not enough supervision over trappers and fears alligators are being poached.
Smolik alerted City Council member Virginia Littrell, who also became concerned and contacted Fish and Wildlife.
"There seems to be lack of control as to how Fish and Wildlife is monitoring him," Smolik said. "There may be a nuisance gator who is not moving away quickly enough, but I can't tell you the last time I saw five gators in a given trip."
According to Fish and Wildlife, Carpenter made one trip to the lake on Sept. 23 and took three alligators. But an incident report filed with police shows Carpenter was at the lake on Oct. 14.
Fish and Wildlife spokesman Gary Morse said he doesn't know why the commission's records don't show Carpenter's visit in October, but maintains he has not illegally caught gators.
City Parks Director Clarence Scott said he's sure the gators aren't being poached, but wants to make sure too many aren't removed. "I don't want to see alligators disappear from Lake Maggiore," Scott said.
But Carpenter warns that the animals will continue to spread out into surrounding neighborhoods as the population grows.
"You've got everyone sticking up for an animal right now that's way overpopulated in that lake," he said. "There's no doubt there's a threat."