GAINESVILLE – The Georgia Department of Natural Resources says it is on the look-out, aware of the situation and trying to locate the fugitive, but now thinks a "wait-and-see-approach" might be the best way to corral their target.
No, it’s not a poacher or unlicensed fisherman they are after, but a “gator”; a 2½ to3-feet specimen that has been spotted on several occasions.
“What’s that over by that (boat dock) cable?” Mike O’Neal asked his fishing partner Harold Grizzle on Sunday. Grizzle just stared, trying to discern what the low-profiled creature floating near the dock might be.
“It is an alligator!” Mike O’Neal shouted.
O’Neal and Grizzle were fishing in the Chattahoochee River portion of Lake Lanier, across from Don Carter State Park when they made their sighting. They immediately notified the DNR.
DNR Wildlife Biologist Scott Frazier says his office is aware of the situation. “We have had three prior reports, two prior photographs of that alligator.”
“This gator itself, even as small as it is, has not escaped notice.”
“In fact, our second report of this individual was from a fisherman who said this gator chased a fishing lure he had cast,” Frazier said. “That tells me the gator is probably pretty hungry.”
“Under our current alligator policy our determination on this individual is (that) we are not making an all-out effort to go catch it,” Frazier explained about efforts to remove the reptile. “We will essentially watch and see if it causes some problems before we go after it.”
Frazier says that the DNR does not think the young alligator is a threat to people or pets. “He’s not a physical threat at his current size. This particular gator is probably not a risk to anyone using the lake for recreational purposes.”
“But,” Frazier quickly added, “he could cause injury. He could bite you, and he would…he’s going to defend himself if you try to harass him or pick him up.”
Frazier believes that the alligator will not be able to survive the winter on Lake Lanier, so the threat of it growing larger and being a greater danger down the road is negligible.
“Typically they want to find a nice mud hole they can get down in to protect themselves from winter conditions, and we have been out to the cove where this gator’s been reported and it’s not terribly suitable for that.”
“We feel like that is going to be a challenge for that gator,” Frazier said. “We have some doubts whether this individual can survive a harsh winter.”
And as to how the gator ended up in Lake Lanier: Frazier says it is almost certain that human involvement is the means.
“People tend to acquire gators…typically when they are babies – a foot long or less – which is illegal, by the way,” Frazier explained.
Then the day eventually comes, Frazier explains, “when they outgrow their confinement, or the owners begin to get a little afraid of the gator…and that usually occurs around the 3-foot mark,” that their owners release them into environs like Lake Lanier.
It sounds like a bleak future for the visiting reptile; maybe his best hope is surrender. “If we get involved,” Frazier said, “we would relocate this alligator back to its natural range, into the coastal plain.”
As with all wildlife in our area, watch, enjoy, but allow them a safe distance. You – and they – will enjoy the experience a whole lot more.
http://accesswdun.com/article/2016/8/439465/dnr-keying-watchful-eye-on-lake-lanier-intruder