This item came out during the week I was off, and then the election hit, so I put it off to the side.
But now that that is all over; how many of you knew that it was illegal to kill an alligator in your own back yard in Florida?
Once hunted to dangerously low levels and displaced by urban development, the “gator” population in the state is now estimated at 1 million, or one alligator for every 18 Florida residents
Increasing numbers of gators and people make increasing encounters more likely. At least two people died in alligator attacks this year. Before that, there had only been 18 fatal alligator attacks in Florida since 1948.
The population boom is prompting state wildlife officials to reconsider hunting restrictions that continued to protect the species after the American alligator came off the federal endangered list in 1987.
In December, the state government will be asked to approve proposed changes to extend the annual hunting season, currently around two-and-a-half months, and increase hunting limits.
It all sounded good up to that point. As though the state had the problem relatively under control. Then I read this line.
The proposed new rules would also allow Florida property owners to take matters into their own hands if a rogue gator comes calling, and kill the reptile.
Now they must file a request to get rid of the creatures and hire professional help. The changes, if approved, could be in place within 18 months, according to the proposal.
I’m sorry, but I live in deep, deep socialist blue Washington State and if a bear or cougar or pack of wild, rabies infested titmice come into my backyard, I can kill them (most suburban jurisdictions have restrictions on the discharging of firearms for the titmice, but I can swing a bat or ax quite freely, thankyouverymuch).
But in Florida, it is illegal to kill a carnivorous reptilian predator that outweighs me and who frequents the property where my wife (and proverbial children) and pets live? I have to file for “A Permit” so that I can pay “A Professional” to “Relocate” the sumbitch?
What the hell have the Republicans been doing in that state besides making Democrats whine?
It is my property, and I get to kill anything and everything on it that I don’t want there. If I were a resident of Florida, I would have a Castle Law to protect myself against a higher form of life known as humans, though the criminal ones being higher than an alligator is debatable (at least the gator kills for a respectable reason), but this prehistoric reptile gets protection from the muzzle of my gun?
I swear, just as in SoCal, the sun must be cooking their brains (San Fancisco has low-grade LSD in the water supply).
You idiot. You really are ready to kill any wildlife that comes into “your” backyard? Is this a joke?
Why not enjoy and respect the wildlife. Why not realize that your property rights are not understodd by wildlife, who were here first? Why not understand that you really do not own “your backyard”….note that if you kill a cougar or a grizzly anywhere in the United States that it is a federal offense for they are considered endangered species.
I am truly sorry you live in such a beautifully wild state….why don’t you move and live in a city like Chicago or NYC….Queens, the Bronx, etc? if you dislike wildlife so much?
Why not learn to live with your wild neighbors instead of killing them?
Beau Enriquez
Are you for real? I’m having trouble deciding whether someone dumb enough to believe that “My Property” does not entitle me to prtection from predators could find their way here.
Cougars, Bear, and Alligators are predators, Beau. You do realize that they will kill you simply because they are hungry, right? They don’t respect property lines and if they threaten me, anywhere, I get to kill them.
Your understanding of “federal offences” and “endangered species” is lacking, Beau. In Washington State, we have so many Cougar that anyone who buys a hunting license and a deer tag gets a Cougar tag for free.
Maybe you would like for us to import some of them to your location so that you could pet the peaceful kitty kats?
Beau, if they would not attempt to eat me, I would not kill them. I am the top of the food chain, and they are below. As are you if you believe that they are my “neighbors”. They’re animals and that is how they see both you and me.
There is a difference though: I’ll never become Kat food.
Go away. You have not only told untrue things here in your first visit, but you have insulted everyone else who stopped by in doing so.
Allow me to compliment you on a post with just the right dash of rantiness combined with libertarian self-respect, on top of which like delicate icing on the cake, a pimpslap to the first commenter!
This post also has personal relevance: when I moved my family from Maryland (spit! spit! spit!) to Texas, the kids were charmed to learn (along with the requisite paying homage to the Alamo, Sam Houston, Bowie knives, and football at high school and college levels)that Corpus Christi has wild alligators.
Fortunately, we live in Austin. So I felt fairly safe telling my daughter that anytime she found one, she could bring it home. Long story short, that was a mistake. While I have no gators in a horse trough out back, a steady procession of other critters, from turtles and snakes to baby rabbits have been captured and brought home for temporary or permanent enslavement.
While I enjoy scaring my daughter (and my wife) with a large rubber snake on a string in the living room as much as any man, waking up from a nap on the couch with a live corn snake on my face, my daugher (and my wife) laughing nearby, is a bit much.
Live and learn, live and learn.
Glad I could be of service. I will strive to keep the balance mentioned in your first paragraph always (seriously).
As for small “friends” brought home, not too long ago, I had the same situation, only I was the older brother to a younger sister. I learned to be careful opening things very shortly after she learned to walk.
She had to learn to run not to long after.