700-Pound Alligator Captured (pics)

local6 ^ | May 18, 2006

[stainlessbanner]

Meanwhile, a giant 700-pound, 12-foot-long alligator was captured and pulled from a South Florida canal after residents called for help.

A crane and several men were needed to lift the alligator out of the canal located near Northwest 41st Street in Doral, Fla.

Homeowners in the area complained about the alligator, saying it had become a nuisance.

A trapper said the alligator was definitely not one residents would want in the area, according to the report.

"This is the biggest alligator ever caught in Miami-Dade County," Local 6's Jacquie Sosa said.

[JennysCool]

They grow darned big in some areas.

[KoRn]

Wow!

[Sax]

[misterrob]

Nah, they hang out on the stoop, drinking 40's, smoking dope and they wear their pants half way down their ass.

[Extremely Extreme Extremist]

MAN IN SUIT! MAN IN SUIT!

[bonfire]

lol Ya wonder how many they kill and cut open before they find the right one.

Sounds to me like they just grab any ole' gator to appease the public.

[Hydroshock]

Boots and luggage for all.

[ken5050]

FYI..the gator's neck muscles are all desigmed to exert a tremendous closing compression force, to grab, and kill prey..but they have almost no strenght to open the mouth...you can literally hold the mouth shut with your hand by holding the tips shut..or a piece of duct tape..

[NCC-1701]

Man, that looks like one of Godzilla's cousins!

[GladesGuru]

'Gators rely on gravity to open the lower jaw.

Speaking of 'duck' tape, "Beware the Quantum Duck - QUARK! QUARK! !

[GladesGuru]

"We had a 14ft 1200 pounder at a local refuge. He can barely move - just eats hot dogs and sits on the bank all day."

Until the day comes when he wants to eat something, say a snowbird, then he can move quite fast.

[RMDupree]

Reason # 346 as to why I'm moving to Washington. :-)

[HairOfTheDog]

That, and getting away with storms that have names. :~D

[RMDupree]

You got it!

On an aside, the agent that showed us the house actually moved here from South Florida! *laughing*

I'm tellin' ya, it was like it was meant to be!

[MikefromOhio]

Did someone call for Paul Hogan?????

[FDNYRHEROES]

How do they KNOW they caught the right gator?? Don't they all look alike?? Is there a gator lineup?

I say kill 'em all...and let Steve Irwin sort 'em all out...

[stainlessbanner]

They match gator teeth to the victim's bite marks. Also, gator's are territorial and tend to stay in certain areas - the trappers will hunt it down in the vicinity of the attack.

[MissAmericanPie]

There is a great place to vacation in East Texas called "Chain O Lakes", no phones, no tv, just lovely log cabins with porches that stick out over the water. Horse back riding, fishing, hiking, swimming with the fish and turtles. It was Eden.

They have gators galore and a 12 footer in a pond outside the fabulous restaurant that you can watch while gourmet dining. You can order a horse drawn carriage to take you the short distance to the Herb Hill Farm restaurant. Herb Hill will give you a tour of their organic gardens before dinner, all fresh, fresh food.

I loved to sit on the porch swing with my coffee and watch them swim up in the early morning and feed them marsh mellows, if a couple of people in a canoe paddled by, the gators would vanish under the water until the canoers had passed then pop up for more marsh mellows. Even the birds and squirrels were tame and came right up to you begging for a snack.

I cried when we had to leave so my sweet hubby agreed to stay three more days, I could have stayed forever, it was so stress free. Generally if you stay out of their territory they stay out of yours, if not, exit the area immediately. I only encountered one aggressive gator and he was a two and a half foot long baby that swam right up to me when I was fishing, I popped him on the snout with the end of my rod and he stood up and hissed at me, so I vacated to the car until he went his way. I don't see them as a threat as they seem pretty predictable.

[GOPJ]

Stainlessbanner: My daughter drove down to Miami yesterday and on the drive saw four dead alligators that looked like they had been run over. She's made the drive many times - having lived in Miami for a number of years - and has never seen even one dead alligator. Either something scared the alligator out of the swamp (which I doubt) or something in the alligator's hard wiring changed - something like a whale beaching itself.

Then, a few months ago, another odd alligator story -- my family owns some houses on a large Florida lake - and for the first time in over twenty years - a large alligator climbed up the embankment and was wandering around the yard. It's not a small climb - and not a small yard. Gators have come up around the boat docks before, but never up the road to the house.

This is starting to have the feel of the problems with frogs a few years back. Could there be a new reptile virus? What do you think?

[stainlessbanner]

What I've heard is the "perfect storm" theory of the attacks this year: lower water levels, mating season, highest residential population, growth/construction. All these combined to make the gators behave abnormally and facilitate interaction between ppl and gators.

Of course you know Lake George has many big gators, Okeechobee has a bunch too. There's many an old gator story in those parts - some are 'ol yarns, but I believe some of em!