Fred Stager, superintendent of Lake Seminole Park, points to a favorite place where alligators build nests and lay their eggs.
Photo by THOMAS MICHALSKI
An alligator guards a nest inside a concrete pipe.
PINELLAS COUNTY – The drought brought on by the lack of rain, combined with alligator mating season, has been credited with three human deaths by alligators statewide in recent weeks.
Alligators by nature are not hostile and, in fact, fear humans. Fresh water, including those in Pinellas County public parks, are filled with alligators ranging in size from a few inches to 12 and more feet.
The current lack of rain is dropping water levels in lakes and ponds enough to push alligators into neighborhoods and even swimming pools.
Though one of the attacks was in Oldsmar, there is no over abundance of incidents in Pinellas County.
“There have been no recent incidents here,” said Fred Stager, superintendent of Lake Seminole Park in Seminole.
Alligators are carnivores and do not go out of their way to attack humans.
“They’re afraid of us,” Stager said. “We have a lot of warning signs posted along the water, but some people pay no attention to them.”
Stager drove to a small group of children near Shelter 5 who were harassing an 8 footer that apparently made a nest in a concrete pipe. It was only about 10 feet from shore and kept a watchful eye on both the youngsters and her nest.
Stager said that that particular alligator will have to be destroyed because it swims too close to shore, thus creating a danger.
Trappers have a dangerous job with low pay. The $30 earned from the state per gator is supplemented by selling the carcasses to meat processors.
“It’s a shame,” Stager said, “because that particular alligator has been here five or six years and never bothered anyone.”
Andrea Zaleski of Seminole kept her distance as she took photographs with her cell phone camera.
“It was just up on the shore and it growled at me,” Zaleski said.
Gators make throaty sounds, especially during mating season. They are not the most intelligent of God’s creatures, having a brain about the size of a silver dollar.
Alligators cover their eggs with vegetation or pine needles and carry hatchlings in their mouths until about 2 months old when they must fend for themselves.
“Their survival rates aren’t high,” Stager said. “If egrets and other birds don’t get them other alligators will.”
Meanwhile, Jerry Cumings, superintendent of the Fred E. Marquis Pinellas Trail, said no reports of aggressive alligators have been reported.
A lot of the trail is bordered by water and shorelines where alligators thrive.
“We warn people not to feed them and signs are posted along the trail,” Cumings said. “Some areas are fenced to keep the animals away from the trail.”
Joe Luciano, a worker at Walsingham Park, located between 102nd Avenue and Walsingham Road in Seminole, said there have not been any alligator incidents reported.
“We installed signs around the lake every 20 or 30 feet,” Luciano said.
Alligators rarely sun themselves along the shore because the lake is unique in that it has an island in its center.
“They stay on the island where people don’t go,” Luciano said.
At least one legislator wants to pass a law to protect Floridians from the dangerous creatures. U.S. Rep. Adam H. Putnam, a Bartow Republican, is working on a bill to protect the public from the creatures.
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