www.byzcath.org Forums General Discussions Town Hall Why I will NEVER live in Florida

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Yes Gordo,

Just think of the money you can save on the security system though.

In IC XC,
Father Anthony+

It looks like he's reaching for the doorbell! It reminds me of the SNL skit "Landshark"!

I've also been told that there is a shortage of white fluffy dogs in Florida now... :p I guess alligators have their role to play in the social order of things. Heck - I'd carry a white fluffy dog with me too if I lived in Florida now!

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And yet another reason...

God bless the Floridians this year!

Gordo

Gordo, thanks for the picture. This is a visitor that was just looking for some good food. He wanted "Chow"-der and "Poodles" alfredo.

I had a neighbor down the street that worked as a trash collector. He told me one day, he picked up one of the 40 gallon size plastic cans to dump it. It was heavy. He opened the lid, and lo and behold, someone, most like kids, had stuffed a six foot alligator in the can. While I was laughing hysterically, he looked at me with a straight face and said: "It wasn't funny." That made me roll on the floor.

Michael

I may be mistaken, but I think the alligators enjoy legal protection. Does that deprive us of alligator shoes, and the possibility of making dog food out of the rest of the alligator?

Shades of runnin' like a dog thru the Everglades (my, I AM dating myself!).

But if the alligators are allowed to eat the dogs, why shouldn't the dogs eat the alligators?

Incognitus

WOW...! That must have been a little frightening!

What would have been his reaction had the trash can been filled with little white fluffy dogs?

Here alligator, alligator...

Gordo

Gators or no-

Florida is preferrable to winter in Pittsburgh.

Wild alligators are listed as "threatened" and thus afforded legal protection. But not because their numbers are limited (in fact it is the opposite they are flourishing). Rather it is because of their close resmblence in appearance to the endangered American Crocodile.

There is; however, a thriving business in farmed alligators as well as a legal alligator hunting season.

I'll trade you 95 degree days with 90% humidity and "feels like" or heat index temp of well over 100 degrees, hurricane season, venomous snakes, alligators, brown recluse spiders and the incredibly flat and ugly landscape of Florida for a PA winter any day of the year.

(I hate this state, can you tell?)

Carole

Carole,

Is the Crocodile as dangerous as the Alligator?

Thanks.

Alice

I don't know that much about the American Crocodile to be honest. Though statistically speaking they are far less dangerous simply because they are very hard to come across.

In truth the American Alligator is not really any more dangerous than any other large predatory animal (bears, wolves, coyotes, mountain lions).

The apparent increase in the number of alligator attacks has much more to do with the destruction of natural habitat and the increasing number of people in Florida than aggression on the part of the alligators.

People are moving to Florida by the thousands. New home construction and urban sprawl is destroying natural wetlands at an alarming rate. As people continue to move into these areas and the gators are being forced into smaller and smaller habitats confrontations between humans and alligators are going to become increasingly frequent.

Since alligators are primitive, rather unintelligent, instinct driven predators it will be up to humans to use their not inconsiderable intelligence to minimize and avoid these encounters.

Unfortunately for many gators people here in Florida do amazingly stupid things. Like feeding alligators. Or letting their small dogs run loose near ponds. This provide alligators with an easy source of food and diminishes their normal caution around humans (who do not, when standing, look like a food source). When alligators loose this caution and sense and easy source of food they will, as all animals will (why else would we put bird feeders in our yards) frequent those places. A human being without food for the gator, who runs into a gator with no natural caution that is seeking a source of food will attack a human being.

It isn't the gator's fault. It is the fault of the foolish humans who expect that they can tame everything.

Living in a state with alligators is like living in a state with bears. You just have to understand the animals and try not to do anything stupid.

Carole

Dear Carole,

Thanks for your response. Unfortunately all animals are being forced out of their natural habitats because of over development.

I have lived in north suburban New York for 23 years now. For the first 15 years, I never saw deer because it just isn't all that rural here. Raccoon and skunk were always here, however, in the past eight years we have also seen deer come through our back yard, as well as fox and wild turkeys. Coyote sightings in the area are also not a rarity any more...one even managed to cross the river somehow and make it to Central Park in the middle of New York City! One also killed and ate the celebrity Kathie Lee Gifford's little dog in her backyard in Greenwich, Ct. which is only a few miles north from me.

All this displacement is really is so sad, especially when you see a family of deer feeding right next to I-95--of all places!

Regards,
Alice

In the Latin Church a gray area still lurks as to what can or cannot be eaten during the fridays of Lent. So sometimes on the Fridays of Lent we head on down to Broussard's Cajun Restaurant for crawdad etouffee and Gator Nuggets! Yummy!

Of all the things they say taste like chicken, alligator is the only animal that does! it is a bit tougher and slightly stringier though!

Now that I'm trying to follow the Eastern way of doing things, I'll have to cut that out!

Hmmm...gator nuggets?

You sound a bit like my husband, who will try anything.

I remember a trip when the children were young to Grand Cayman Island. Giant sea turtles are famous there, and are so harmless and gentle, that they will swim right next to you. We went to a tourist site to observe them more closely, and on that turtle farm, there was a food and snack bar serving....TURTLE!!!

After just having seen those beautiful creatures, it was most disturbing to know that they also served them cooked in a sandwich, and what was even MORE disturbing was that my husband decided to buy one of these sandwiches to try it.

I still remember that day ten years ago as vividly as if it were yesterday, and I still remember the intrigued look on his face with each bite! :rolleyes:

As we continued the tour, we just could not stand to be near him while he was eating it!

On a final note: he didn't really like it, and he is pretty open minded about food, so please, if any of you ever visit Grand Cayman with your children and wife, don't put them through the same agony; apparently it isn't worth it! LOL!

Alice