Alligator may pay for dog's mistake

Monday, it killed a dog in its Al Lopez pond. Friday, a trapper was deciding its fate.

By Thomas Lake, Times Staff Writer
Published February 16, 2008

On Monday, an unleashed cairn terrier named Freddy jumped in a pond at Al Lopez Park and was killed by an alligator.
	[Brian Cassella | Times]

TAMPA -- Alligators are wild, fearsome creatures with jaws nearly as strong as the Tyrannosaurus rex. They usually ignore humans, but not always; they have killed at least 21 people in Florida since 1973.

This puts them near the bottom of the legal-rights hierarchy, slightly above mold spores.

Generally speaking, anyone can order an alligator's death. All it takes is a toll-free call to the state nuisance hotline. The policy has been virtually the same for three decades: Any alligator that threatens people, pets or property -- whether that threat is real or perceived -- can be "addressed," or "removed," or "harvested." These tend to be euphemisms for a jackknife to the brain.

This brings us to the case of the alligator that lived in a pond in Al Lopez Park. On Monday, an unleashed cairn terrier named Freddy ran toward the alligator, barking. The alligator stayed in the water. The dog jumped in the water. The alligator killed the dog.

Now, despite cries of protest from numerous users on local news Web sites, the alligator may die. Soon after Freddy's death, state-licensed alligator trapper Julie Harter went hunting. She was merely following the rules.

"Unfortunately," said Harry Dutton, the alligator management program coordinator for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, "these poor trappers are kind of stuck in the middle."

Harter caught the alligator late Thursday afternoon using a hook baited with a cow lung. It measured 7 feet, 7 inches long, about 175 pounds. From the shape of its body Harter guessed it was female. Contrary to previous reports, it had not eaten Freddy. His carcass was recovered by a parks department employee who notified the dog's owner, Hyde Park resident Sarah Frey, who ordered Freddy cremated. She could not bear to look at his body. She has no plans to acquire another dog.

Harter took the alligator back to Lakeland and left it in a cage. On Friday afternoon, she was still deciding its fate.

Many people in Florida, especially newcomers, think nuisance alligators can simply be relocated elsewhere in the wild. No. Alligators are highly territorial, so a new one can disrupt the ecosystem, and in any case their homing instincts are so strong that they have been known to return to the scene of the controversy.

Harter could take the alligator to a slaughterhouse in Lacoochee, where its various parts would be converted into products ranging from belts and briefcases to fertilizer and lipstick.

Or she could sell it to a licensed alligator farm or reptile sanctuary. The price is negotiable. Trappers need to eat.

Trappers removed nearly 12,000 alligators in 2006, shattering the record set the year before. Catching them is easy if you know how. Cast the hook and wait for the jaws to snap shut.

Thomas Lake can be reached at tlake@sptimes.com or (813) 226-3416.

[Last modified February 16, 2008, 03:19:59]