Man kills massive alligator suspected of feasting on Florida man's cows

[pesco]

Originally published at: Man kills massive alligator suspected of feasting on Florida man's cows | Boing Boing

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[DurhamO]

@pesco

believed to be 80 years old … dispatched … with a single bullet to the head.

What a shitty way to go out

[ddmone]

Definitely sad, but at least it seems like the guy knows what he was doing and it wasn’t some amateur torturing the poor thing.

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[Bobo]

To be honest, if you want to raise prey animals for food or milk or whatever, you can’t really have top tier predators sharing the same space (i.e. if the cattle used the pond as a water source).

Could they have trapped it, and relocated it? Possible, but I can’t imagine who wants that job.

And Alligators aren’t exactly endangered.

So. This IMHO boils down to “who gets to exist in a certain space and use the resources” the mammals or the reptile? I eat meat and enjoy some dairy, so I have no position to complain about this. I’m just glad that it seems to have been handled without excess suffering.

[Otherbrother]

@pesco

Professional hunter Doug Borries of Mississippi is very proud of himself for killing a 13-foot, 4-inch alligator in a private lake near the South Florida city of Okeechobee. The gator, believed to be 80 years old, weighed 905 pounds, but Borries dispatched it with a single bullet to the head.

That’s sad. Betty White would be heartbroken, she loved that guy.

he is having “a full life-size mount” made of the hide and skull.

[Papasan]

I have had gator, it tastes like chicken.

[tcg550]

I’m not a hunter but I have no problem with people hunting for food or in this case protecting his cows or family.

What I do have a problem with is being proud of killing an animal or bragging.

We have a coyote problem in our county, I question the need to kill them on sight but the law says it’s okay.

What happens is these so called hunters go out looking for them and then get all excited and post photos of stacks of dead animals. It’s disgusting.

If you suggest that maybe quit reveling in the killing, just do it and move on, they get angry and go of the deep end. These people are scary.

Coincidentally, I’m watching old Jack Hanna shows this evening and they’re relocating alligators in the wild. Not nearly as large but…

[DiveGirl]

Came for this, exited happy.

[anon48584343]

@Papasan

I have had gator, it tastes like chicken.

More so with King Cake.

Baby Jeebus tastes like ass and is a choking hazard.

[DenverLett]

That’s sad. Betty White would be heartbroken, she loved that guy.

It may have gone looking for food since Betty wasn’t around to feed it any more.

[DenverLett]

@Papasan

I have had gator, it tastes like chicken.

I’ve had it too, but found it chewy and greasy. Then again, it was served deep fat fried in a bar that had no business cooking food.

[Bernel]

@Bobo

To be honest, if you want to raise prey animals for food or milk or whatever, you can’t really have top tier predators sharing the same space

And it’s not as if people write obituaries for every cow we kill for meat.

[Jesse13927]

I think gator makes for good jerky, although most commercial gator jerky uses pork as a filler.

[Shuck]

[fnordius]

I find gator meat has a taste that is mostly like poultry, but it so far has had a texture that reminded me more of fish. Definitely in a class by itself according to my palate.

[anon33176345]

@Bobo

if you want to raise prey animals for food or milk or whatever, you can’t really have top tier predators sharing the same space

If you want to raise prey animals, don’t do it in the territory of top tier predators.

[Bernel]

@anon33176345

If you want to raise prey animals, don’t do it in the territory of top tier predators.

All territories have top tier predators, unless we exterminate them, or maybe I should say replace them as predators.

[SallyDaze]

@Papasan

it tastes like chicken.

I love ‘the tastes like chicken’ trope

The one thing that doesn’t taste like mass produced chicken is chicken!

or maybe alligator… don’t no haven’t tried it.

[anon27554371]

@Bernel

All territories have top tier predators, unless we exterminate them, or maybe I should say replace them as predators.

Strictly speaking, yes.
Every biome has its apex predators.

Apex predator

In some parts of the U.S. urban areas, “apex predator” might mean feral hogs, raccoons, coyotes… or even feral dogs and cats. Some of these are poorly sized to prey on cows.

@Bobo

This IMHO boils down to “who gets to exist in a certain space and use the resources” the mammals or the reptile?

People who raise cattle in gator country are fighting nature. Florida has an infinite supply of alligators, as well as bears, “big cats,” coyotes, etc.

Large Predators - Sarasota County - University of Florida, Institute of Food...

And lately, invasive exotic apex predators: giant constrictor snakes.

Giant Constrictor Snakes in Florida: A Sizeable Research Challenge | U.S....

@Bobo

if you want to raise prey animals for food or milk or whatever, you can’t really have top tier predators sharing the same space (i.e. if the cattle used the pond as a water source).

Texas ranchers have obliterated or nearly obliterated a lot of threats to their cattle, and this is not simply limited to wolves, coyotes, and mountain lions.

https://tpwd.texas.gov/huntwild/wild/nuisance/mountain_lion/

Texas ranchers eradicated the screw worm, a native parasite that placed pressures on deer “infant mortality” and acted as a natural brake on deer population rates. The screw worm parasitized Texas cattle, and since dead calves / cattle are costly to ranchers, screw worm eradication could not come fast enough. Now we have a serious overpopulation of deer, in part due to the missing screw worm, and in part due to blisteringly fast land development here.

Screwworms

… and now, the screw worm is in Florida.
Cattle-ranching and dairy farming in that state has now become even harder.

https://www.houstonchronicle.com/local/planet-texas/article/Flesh-eating-worms-not-likely-to-spread-to-Texas-9981760.php

Small but mighty.
Certainly not the size of a gator.
Then again, the bacterium for bubonic plague is tiny, and not gator-sized.

Whether screw worms or the plague bacterium ( Yersinia pestis ) are qualified to be called “apex predators” is left as an exercise for the reader.

[PurpleFlower]

I’ve honestly been curious as I’m switching my cat to a new catfood that is actually alligator meat based (we had to try a novel protein for allergy reasons, the choices were venison, rabbit, duck, or alligator, obviously I chose the alligator, the most natural prey of the 9 lbs housecat).