Alligator Shot By Officers In Southern Ore.

[wcreptiles]

I really don't think a 3 1/2 foot alligator was much of a threat to anyone. I guess maybe a quick shot is better that freezing to death when it turns cold in Oregon this winter.

Alligator Shot By Officers In Southern Ore.

POSTED: 1:54 pm PDT August 13, 2009
UPDATED: 2:10 pm PDT August 13, 2009


GRANTS PASS, Ore. -- Two children found an alligator at a southern Oregon river last weekend, leading state police fish and wildlife officers to shoot and kill the gator.

State police said Thursday that the children discovered the 3½-foot alligator on a log at Applegate River near Grants Pass. Senior Trooper Marty Marchand was called to investigate.

Marchand felt there was no way to safely capture the alligator before it returned to the water. Police said he shot and killed the alligator because of safety concerns. Marchand then climbed onto the log and retrieved the carcass, police said.

Police said there are no homes in the area where the alligator may have come from. It's unknown if the alligator escaped from its owner or whether it was intentionally dumped in the river. Oregon state law prohibits releasing non-native species into the wild.

http://www.kptv.com/news/20388653/detail.html#

 

[dp252]

dont u think if they had fish and wildlife out there that they could of captured the alligator instead of killing the poor thing its not his fault a irresponsible owner let him go knowing the water gets cold in the winter and i dont think its impossible to "safely capture" a 3 1/2 alligator

 

[snowgyre]

It's possible that the police made the call before the US Fish and Wildlife Service or local DNR people got there. Even so, unless a zoo wants to take an alligator in, the cost of transporting the animal to a more southern climate would be very, very expensive. In most cases, like it or not, it is just unrealistic to capture these animals alive. And, according to state law, the police were entitled to kill the animal because it's most like a release or an escapee. Besides, it certainly is more humane to kill the animal rather than let it slowly freeze to death when other options weren't available. Nature would've killed it anyway. I think the gator got lucky that it was found and humanely killed. Gators down south are killed for much less important reasons (ie. being on golf courses).

 

[dp252]

well that may be true but i feel that it wasn't killed bc it was a threat to human life but because the officer was uneducated about reptiles and was affraid of the animal because the way the media portrays them if people saw the different side to reptiles like a 25 ft boa swimming in a pool with its owner or a full grown gator in a zoo with its handler people would be less afraid of reptiles