Cenla has its fair share of alligators

It's alligator season in Louisiana

By Jann Baty

June 22, 2000 Web posted at: 11:46 AM EDT (1546 GMT)

CENLA, Louisiana (The Town Talk) -- Most of Cenla is a bit removed from the swamps of south Louisiana, but this area has its fair share of wild alligators.

Gator sightings have been on the increase lately in central Louisiana, mainly because the large reptiles are on the move for mating season.

Could it be love at first bite?

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Bill Burns, a wildlife biologist for Wildlife and Fisheries, noted, "This is mating season for gators. They are looking for a mate."

Wildlife officials have this basic advice for those who come upon an alligator in the wild: keep your distance and call authorities to relocate it.

This past weekend, a dog nearly became "gator bait" in Kolin.

Becky Williams came home from Cotile Lake on Saturday to learn that an 8-foot-long alligator had taken up residence under her camper and had planned to have her little dog for a snack. The most alarming thing to Williams was the fact that her mid-sized, mixed-breed dog had been chained up to the camper while they had been on a day trip to Cotile Lake.

"If my car had not been parked in front of the camper, my dog would be gone by now," Williams said.

"I do not usually park my car there; it was a good thing because that is how my dog escaped death. The poor thing was terrorized."

Two neighbors of Williams and two Rapides Parish sheriff's deputies wrestled the 8-foot creature into the back seat of a patrol car. The animal was transported to the Dewey Wills Wildlife Management Area.

A 10-foot-gator was captured recently in the Ruby area after it snapped at a girl riding a horse.

Anyone who lives in Louisiana that has a body of water on their property or lives in close proximity to a body of water will see a gator eventually, Burns said.

"This is Louisiana," he said. "There is a lot of marshland, and that is the habitat that they like."

Burns said the state Department of Wildlife and Fisheries has a nuisance-alligator crew that will come out to handle a gator when called.

"The best line of defense for humans and alligators is to just let the alligator have distance," Burns said.

"I am sure that the little dog of Mrs. Williams would have been a snack for him. They have been known to eat small mammals."

With more and more people moving out to rural areas, Burns said, people have to learn to "co-exist" with nature.

"People are moving in on an animal's environment," he said. "Deer will eat the corn and raccoons will get into the garbage because that is what they do."

In the early 1970s, alligators were declared federally endangered due to widespread hunting, Burns said.

"They were put on the endangered list in 1973, and from that time alligator hunting areas have expanded; now it is statewide," he said. "However, it is only a 30-day period from Sept. 1-30 of each year."

The eating habits of an alligator are what Burns described as opportunistic.

"They will eat what is readily available, but they are carnivores," he said. "They will eat almost anything. I have seen stomach contents with beer cans and other foreign objects where they just eat at random."

Williams is convinced the gator was intending to eat her dog.

"You can see by the footprints and tail marks that he was making a beeline towards my dog," she said. "I do not know what made me park my car there, but I am sure glad I did."

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