Alligators still claim right of way around water
Letters to the EditorLast week, we asked you to share stories about your close encounters.
Published April 6, 2007
Gator crosses goal line
A few years ago I was raking leaves when a gator crossed the road in front of my next-door neighbor's house. He was about 5 foot, and I knew he was heading for the lake behind our houses.
Well, we don't like gators in the lake, so I ran over and tried to dissuade him from continuing his journey. I found out that gators are not impressed with yard rakes.
He got to the lake and swam out into the middle, just floating there, and I figured he was daring me to come out and mess with him in his element. I went back to raking.
Thomas Kenyon, Sarasota
Making a believer
I was just a newbie to Florida, and I watched as a dog began barking at an alligator that looked like he was sleeping, half-in and half-out of the lake. The dog went after the gator again and the gator began sliding back into the water. I thought all of those gator tales were hogwash when suddenly I heard a loud "clack" followed by a shower of dust, reeds and water. The dog was gone and as soon as my hand stopped shaking a little and I could get the key in the ignition, so was I.
John Ruddy, St. Petersburg
You can almost hear that da-dum music
I was a student at the University of Florida, and it was a beautiful spring day. I decided to lay out in the sun and do some reading, so I went behind the dormitory that I had lived in when I was a freshman. There was a huge pond with a shade tree. You had to walk all the way around the pond to get to the tree. I had a little dog with me, Puppy. As I was putting my blanket down, I noticed that there was a gator in the pond and he was heading straight for us.
I picked the blanket up and started walking back toward the dorm. The gator followed us the whole way. Then to my horror, Puppy went into the water. I called out to him, but he ignored me. The gator was heading straight for him. I started running, calling out Puppy's name. I thought he might follow me, thinking we were playing "chase." It worked. I kept running straight to the dorm. I was afraid that the gator might come out of the water and run after us. A crowd had started to gather to watch what was happening, but thank goodness he didn't chase us. We were safe.
Sylvia Patterson, Clearwater
Things that go bump under the boat
In the fall of 1996 my sixth-grade class went to Nature's Classroom. We were all excited about going on a small boat down the Hillsborough River. The tour guide was describing why the river was so dark in color, then all of a sudden our boat began to rock. We were all screaming because there was a rather large gator underneath our boat. Finally our tour guide paddled his way away from the gator. Luckily we were not pursued, but we all learned a valuable lesson: Do not disturb a gator.
Elise Heffner, Palm Harbor