Tuesday, May 16, 2006
Alligator Attacks
My family has had a home in Venice, FL, on the west coast in south Sarasota County for half a century. In '68, we went down with my friend Frank Kelly for Spring Break. Frank and I were walking on the beach and we went up a stream a few yards and there, near a pool in the stream, was a very big alligator, probably about 10 feet long. This was when we were being told that alligators were going extinct; so we were savoring the moment of seeing one of the last of its behemoth kind in the wild. It did nothing for minutes as we talked about all the alligator lore we knew (which didn't take too long to recount). Then I decided to get some action. The alligator was on the opposite side of the water, about 20 feet away, so I walked up to the pool and splashed my foot in the water. Before I could actually react, the alligator lunged and twisted and slid into the pool, much faster than we could have gotten out of its way. It went up the pool away from the beach and Frank and I fled to the safety of the beach. Who knew those things could move like that, and that fast?
Apparently some women in Florida didn't know. Alligators are strongly suspected of attacking 4 and killing 3 women (two of them right cute) in the past 10 days. That's just wrong.
Apparently some women in Florida didn't know. Alligators are strongly suspected of attacking 4 and killing 3 women (two of them right cute) in the past 10 days. That's just wrong.
# posted by Roger Fraley @ 5:58 AM 
