The "incident in West Pensacola" happend on an arm of Bayou Marcus (Mill View area) about May 23 2005. The aligator involved was not agressive and about 5 feet long. The daughter had been feeding turtles from the sea wall on the property. The perpitrator had been shooting at this alligator almost every afternoon for about 2 weeks. He claimed to have called FLorida Fish and Wildlife--they had no record of his call--and he said he "couldn't get thru". The shots were fired across the boyou toward 4 houses which all had children who played in the back yard. It would have been very easy for a shot to richocet into one of the neighbor's yards (lots of debris in the water post Ivan). The perpitrator at first denied shooting at an alligator (claimed he shot at a water moc. with a shotgun)--he had given the 30.30 to a "Friend" to keep. Bullet in the gator matched the gun.
There have been other gators on Bayou Marcus--and there currently are. FFW has been called and each time a trapper was sent out. I know of one which was relocated (so they say) and at least one which was shot. In each case when an alligator was removed, another came into that territory.
In this current case, the original poster has identified the problem in an open public forum. Thus he needs to contact Florida Fish and Wildlife, to have a trapper remove the gator. Understand that this appears to be on private property--but I believe that what ever the law against shooting gators without a permit, is still held on private property.
Personally I can live with 5 foot gators, but when they get to be 12 to 13 feet, then there is a much more significant danger. The small ones are great to show to the visitors...plus there will always be gators in the swamps..
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