A 9-foot alligator was shot and killed by a game warden on the outskirts of San Antonio because the reptile appeared to have lost its fear of humans, authorities said. Several 911 calls alerted police to an alligator in an area near a lake and an apartment complex, police said. When the game warden arrived early Thursday, the gator had crawled off the road near a ditch.
Danny Shaw, a game warden captain with the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, said the warden decided to shoot the gator because it was close to several residences and was unafraid to approach humans.
“We do not want it to have any contact with human beings,” Shaw said.
He said most alligators avoid people, but this one was approaching an apartment complex.
Some gators are relocated to the Choke Canyon Reservoir in South Texas, but that wouldn’t have been appropriate in this case because it’s a public reservoir and not for gators without fear of people, Shaw said.
Lynn Cuny, director of Wildlife Rescue & Rehabilitation in Kendalia, said killing the animal was the “worst-case scenario.”
“The obvious thing that’s disturbing about this is lethal measures were used quickly,” she said. “These are animals that can, of course, pose a threat. But my gosh, we need to look at everything in our power to not use lethal means.”
Flooding rains have flushed many species from their natural habitats, she said.
“That’s what’s so sad,” she said. “I think that animal would have gone back to his own space if he’d been allowed to.”
Police officers helped the game warden load the dead alligator’s body into a truck. Shaw said most of the body will be disposed, but some parts, including the skull, could be used for Texas Parks and Wildlife education programs.
Police responded to an alligator report in the same area in late April. That time, police were able to herd the reptile off of the main lanes of a highway and into a drainage ditch.
Authorities said there was no way to know if it was the same creature.
Nice job game warden, lets just kill all the wildlife where we want to develop commercial property instead of taking the time to relocate it.
Good Job game warden. I have lived around Alligators and wildlife all my life and I know that sometimes you have to kill those that have been FED by humans and therefore have become unafraid of humans, but rather associate humans with food. Humans are our own worst enemies when it comes to wildlife. Environmentalist are the worst enemies that wildlife have because they do not know enough about what they are talking about to be of any good to animals. They just want to protect and while they think they are doing so are actually destroying. What a shame such dummies have such power.
Just like hunting deer. So many want hunting to stop, when they do not realize that hunting them is the only way to preserve and keep them strong.
This info is inccorrect for this picture. This picture was taken in Sun City, Hilton Head, South Carolina last year. For verification and more info, see article in Hilton Head Packet, local lnewspaper.
don’t kill! alligators rocks!!!
What happened to the alligator then??
Yeah, but if alligators lose their fear of humans they are a potential problem!
well i think it was a good story i think that they shouldnt off killed the croc its s living thing and needs protecting how would you like it if you got lost some were say you lived in london and you wasnt aloud in pontefract becouse it was to far away from home and you got lost in pontefract and you got shot for it you would not like it and thats exacley how tha croc would have fellt it the game wordan should off animul rescu center instead of shoting it cos then it would off been cheacked then got put back in thw wild in stead of being dead
If an alligator is not afraid of humans, and sees us as bringers of food, that means we can feed it and let it live with us, if it: isn’t hungry, isn’t scared (and thinking it’ll be hurt) and isn’t hurt, it won’t bite us.
A gator that is happy and feels safe will be a pet if it’s fed and looked after. They’re the smartest reptile and they know: “If these people are safe, I won’t have to worry about them, and if they give me food, I shouldn’t try to eat them.” Almost all animals know that, but it seems too many humans don’t know it. Theory by logic, the usefull thoughs that are rarly used.
Jonas, your theory would make sense if animals could reason like humans, but they can’t. If alligators, or any animal for that matter, loses it’s fear of humans then we are doing the animal a disservice. I doubt anyone even knows the number of times that “pet” animals have attacked or hurt unsuspecting persons at their homes, at parks, at zoos, etc.
Animals that don’t fear humans have to be put down, but it’s not their fault. It’s the fault of the person that tried to make the wild animal a pet.