Alligator Hunting

I arrived at the Nature Center the Thursday before Spring Break, prepared to continue our fight with Privet. I was pleasantly surprised to find out that the employees of the Nature Center had an alligator in target to capture and take measurements of.  From our initial trip to the Nature Center, we knew alligators were all around, but I was unaware of the amount of alligators found on the reserve (100+). The team first was excited because they thought it was an alligator they hadn't tagged yet. Then, they thought it was the 8ft female they tagged last year. Finally, after pulling him out of the water we found out it was the 11ft male they tagged the year prior. 

I was unfamiliar with the process of how to take an alligator's measurements.  I had no idea that you used fishing poles to pull the animal to the side of the pond and then used a leash (kind of?) to get the momentum to bring him out. In our case, the buggy had to be strapped to him and do the manual labor work for us. After he was out, we duck-taped his mouth, took a seat, and started taking measurements. 

We ran into a bit of trouble while we were weighing him from a tree. Our first rope broke. We overcame and grabbed a new cord to weigh him and we were on our way! I have a whole new level of respect for these workers. It was a long process and pretty rewarding. After gathering the data, we released her back where we pulled her out. 

Takeaways:

1. Our team had more stamina than the alligator. Once caught he was exhausted and docile.

2. To avoid issues with alligator relocation, we release them in the spot where we caught them. 

3. Alligators can outlive some humans.