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By Times staff writer
© St. Petersburg Times, published January 27, 2001
An 11-foot alligator and its captors put on a spirited show in front of dozens of onlookers Friday afternoon near Lake Maggiore.
"It was quite a madhouse," said trapper Joe Borelli. "This was a very bold alligator. It's the kind of alligator I'm happy to get out of a place with children nearby." Borelli and his father catch all alligators in Pinellas County. The massive lizard made a challenging adversary; it took about an hour to trap the beast, and a small city crane was used to hoist it to the top of a sea wall. Trappers tied the alligator securely around the head and tail to keep it under control. The alligator was taken to a Pasco County processing center to be skinned and sold.
Although the gator might seem large compared with its retention pond brethren, it's nowhere near a state record. According to Alligator.net, a Web site offered by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, the longest Florida gator on record was just more than 14 feet long and was found in Lake Monroe in Seminole County. The state weight record was claimed by a 1,043-pound male from Orange Lake in Alachua County. Male alligators tend to be larger than females, which rarely measure longer than 9 feet. If you want to learn more about gators, log on to http://www.wld.fwc.state.fl.us/gators/facts.htm