Hungry And Horny Alligators Are Invading Streets, Homes And Pools In Florida

While seeing an alligator is never too much of a surprise in Florida, the number of close encounters has jumped in recent days and it’s likely due to a combination of hunger and lust. 

A family in Fort Myers was awakened by an eight-foot gator in their lanai in the middle of the night last week, police said on Facebook. In another part of town, a motorist captured footage of a massive gator casually strolling along a busy road.

With the mating season underway, the randy reptiles tend to be more active. But one expert told local media there was more to it than that. The weather is getting warmer and the higher temps speed up the reptiles’ metabolism and make them hungrier. 

“They have to find some food so that’s when we’ll find them on sidewalks and people’s pools,” Brian Norris of Florida Fish and Wildlife told Fox 4 in Fort Myers. “They’re really just out there browsing around.” 

Some might even be looking for chicken. A motorist in North Port had to call the cops after coming out of a chicken wing restaurant and finding a gator under the car.

To read more on this story, click here: Hungry And Horny Alligators Are Invading Streets, Homes And Pools In Florida

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Florida Boy Who Fought Alligator Demands Animal’s Tooth on a Necklace

As Florida Fish and Wildlife officers work to trap an alligator that they believe bit a 9-year-old boy Thursday near St. Cloud's Lakefront Park, the Osceola County Sheriff's Office has released audio from a 911 call made after the attack.

Wildlife officials say they believe they've located the area on East Lake Tohopekaliga where the gator is.

Investigators said James Barney, Jr. was riding his bicycle Thursday afternoon, when he stopped to take a dip in a no-swimming section of the lake.

"I thought someone was playing with me, and I don't know what happened," Barney recalled at a news conference Friday. "I reached down to feel it. I felt its jaw and its teeth. I didn't know what to do. So I immediately reacted and started hitting it. And I had enough strength to pry its jaw open."

Barney said he got the mouth open enough to slide out and then swim away.

Barney was airlifted to the hospital, where he was listed in good condition Friday.

"He's got about 30 different teeth marks of varying different degrees," said James Barney Sr., the boy's father.

Doctors found a tooth in one of the boy's wounds. Barney said he wanted to keep the tooth, but Florida Fish and Wildlife took the tooth to help find the gator.

Fish and Wildlife officials said there have been about two dozen unprovoked alligator attacks across Florida since 2011.

The surrounding area where the boy was bitten has been closed as wildlife officers work to capture the gator believed to be responsible for attacking the 9-year-old, as well as a second gator that also believed to be a threat.

Barney's father said his son swam in the lake often. But asked if he would consider swimming in that lake again, Barney said, "negative."


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