"Friendly" Alligators?

[Jeff Higgins]

I'm still not sure just how on earth I stumbled into this. Here we have a guy working in, or possibly the owner of, a wildlife sanctuary harboring at least some alligators. So he feeds them - I suppose you kind of have to. No problem with that... at least until he starts trying to pass one off as "friendly" to an apparent guest. I guess I'm just not convinced there is enough intellectual horsepower driving this prehistoric lizard apex predator to even understand an anthropomorphization such as "friendly". Yeah, he "pets" it, but only when it is turned away, distracted, with food in its mouth. Isn't this how someone else winds up getting hurt, when they buy into nonsense like this?

[rusnak]

Yeah. The guy in the orange shirt is going to get the nickname "Stubby".

[Bill Douglas]

It's a trick, a mean trick, and I'm not falling for it.

[Heel n Toe]

At some point, the guy's kid or grandkid is going to sneak down to the dock one afternoon to pet it and it's not gonna go well.

[porsche tech]

Lots of them around here and the number one rule is DO NOT feed them. They begin to associate food with humans. Also bad idea to walk your dog near a lagoon. There's been several deaths in the 8 years I've lived here--dogs and people. Everyone I know gives them a wide berth.

[berettafan]

that is some deft showmanship there. i think his actions aren't as casual as they look.

[rfuerst911sc]

I predict a Darwin moment in his future . Having lived in FL. for 18 years you learn very quickly NOT to feed these prehistoric eating/killing machines . It never ends well .

[mattdavis11]

My uncle did that sort of stuff, and had teeth marks on his ass to prove it!

Seriously, one Saturday morning, my grandfather (Marine Biologist Prof) received a call from the University of Florida, asking if he would wake his son up, and tell him to get the gator out of the pool, they have a swimming meet today.

[dewolf]

[Norm K]

Conditioned response, nothing more. The guy in the video appears either naive or stupid enough to believe otherwise.

_

[LEAKYSEALS951]

Originally Posted by Jeff Higgins

just not convinced there is enough intellectual horsepower

Boat guide included

[masraum]

This guy must think he's the next Steve Irwin. If he really believes what he's telling them "my friends" etc..., then he's fooling himself.

[Jeff Higgins]

Yes, an erstwhile Tim Treadwell of the Swamp. His day is coming. Or, worse, someone else's day is coming, someone who buys into his hogwash.

[stevej37]

Although a much smaller reptile....I used to feed treats to my turtles by hand.
One day the largest one snapped at the treat too far and got ahold of my finger.
I couldn't get it to release..I had the thing completely out of the water before it realized something was wrong. Tore a half inch piece of my skin off.
Reptiles are not real smart....just always hungry.

[RWebb]

I grew up watch B&W TV shows of cajuns wrestling alligators.

Guy would flip them over then rub their belly until they went to sleep.

He'd get up then and walk around it in circles for a while - 10-15 minutes later it would wake up, flip over and trundle off.

[wswartzwel]

Amos Moses was a cajun. Lived by himself in the swamp.....

[john70t]

Big Lizard in My Backyard — The Dead Milkmen
(1980s punk band)

[OK-944]

My great grandfather, who lived in S.C., had a fountain with a pool inhabited by several alligators. He found that by wearing the same coveralls as he fed them every day, the critters would lose their aggressiveness towards him and get "friendly" as feeding-time approached.

But...woe to the hapless person who was not my great grandfather when approaching these creatures! There were apparently a few close calls!

[sammyg2]

Reminds me of that fella back home who fell off a ten-story building. As he was falling, people on each floor kept hearing him say, "So far, so good." Heh, so far, so good.

Steve McQueen, from The Magnificent Seven.

[CurtEgerer]

alligator-attack-woman-canoeing-fatal-florida-lake-kissimmee

A fatal bear attack Monday followed by a fatal gator attack yesterday here in FL The bear attack was the first fatality in FL history. The gator attack, not so much. The fatal attack occurred in Lake Kissimmee. Another attack in nearly the same area occurred several weeks ago to a Texas woman in a kayak. She either had her arm bitten off at the elbow or was bit in the elbow depending on the story you read.

Lake Kissimmee is the headwaters of the Everglades and is teeming with gators. I've been there on airboats several times but never in my kayak. I had a very, very close encounter with a 10-footer last month in a lake I kayak in almost daily. Pretty sure he wanted to mate with my yak. Luckily, the sight of me scared him more than he scared me! Mating season ends in June and the kayak is drydocked until then

A 50-60 year old in Lake Kissimmee ....