'Gator Encounter' Apparently Not A Hit With Employees

Here's a term which may be unique to Florida: "Nuisance Alligator."

At a parking lot at Vero Beach Municipal Airport used by about 800 employees of Piper Aircraft each day, a security guard encountered a four-foot alligator under a parked car Monday. Police Sergeant Bill Offutt responded, and tried to snag the gator's snout in a rope loop on the end of a pole. Instead, the gator bit the rope and wouldn't let go.

TCPalm reports Offut then pulled the flopping reptile out of its hiding spot, held his jaws shut with one foot, and wrapped it shut with the only thing he had immediately available, a roll of medical gauze. Bystanders ran for some tape to effect a more secure restraint.

City officials say the parking lot is near the intersection of Aviation Boulevard and 27th Avenue, adjacent to a drainage canal, and that this isn't the first time a gator has been removed from the area. A licensed alligator trapper was called to haul this one away. If you're visiting Florida, and wonder why so many retention ponds are surrounded by chain link fences, now you know. If your kids kick a ball over the fence, don't let them climb in after it!

At one time, alligators were considered endangered in Florida. Now they're back, in numbers which make them as big a nuisance in Florida as white-tailed deer are in many other states. TCPalm reports the alligator found Monday will be destroyed, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. Florida allows trappers to kill nuisance alligators four feet or longer and sell the meat and hyde to pay for their work.

FMI: Alligators