Dangerous man-eating reptiles are not my favorite creatures-I’ll gladly live here with no “water features”, a colder winter, drier climate, etc-I’d much, much rather back out of a hiking trail if I see mountain lion or feral hog tracks than be watching out for a hungry, 8-9 ft. reptile to emerge from the river...
I would love to go stay at Caddo Lake for a vaca, though-my 1st husband and I used to go there every year-what a beautiful place...
Alligators have been in East Texas as long as I can remember-Texas’ eastern area has the same climate as Louisiana, where there are alligators all over the place. They are highly adaptable, too, having been around for a few million years, a colder climate is probably no big deal to them, as long as they can winter in a sheltered place-it would probably take another ice age to bother them.
We even had a few out in West Texas on ranches - although that was not as common as here. We visited a local State park a few years ago to see the gators in the lake there. I was actually stunned at the observation dock - the gators could easily walk down that dock and trap you out there. It totally creeped me out....that plus a little while after leaving the dock I photographed two alligators just lying in the sun blocking the sidewalk.... the kids had taken a nature walk and had to walk around some snakes - I was not interested in going back to that area.