“THIS is the northern range of their territory,” says
Alicia Davis, a biologist with the North Carolina
Wildlife Resources Commission. “They are here.”
Davis, who has been with the NCWRC since
2015, became the agency’s American alligator biologist in
Oct. 2017. It was a new position, added because of a rise in the
alligator population in the state. Or, at least, an uptick in the
number of gator reports.
“We’ve had an increase in the number of calls from the
public with concerns about alligators,” she says. “It’s not a
surprise if you think about an increase in human population
on the coast. More people come in contact with gators. There’s
less and less quote ‘wild places.’ Alligators don’t mind at all
living in retention ponds or in a pond on the golf course.”
The calls typically go something like this: “Oh-my-gosh-I-just-
saw-an-alligator-in-my-neighborhood-I’m-so-scared-it’s-going-
to-eat-me-do-something!”
“People call shocked, what do I do? ‘I have children and
pets,’” Davis says. “Lots of times it’s a tourist or someone who
just moved to the area. I hear it all the time; I didn’t even
know alligators were here.”
The calls increase this time of year. Alligators are cold-blooded
creatures. During the winter they go into a state of
dormancy called brumation. Their metabolism slows and
they become lethargic. They are most active when the weather
warms up. The wildlife commission receives hundreds of calls
during the hottest four or five months of the year.
The concern about gators is understandable. They are
fearsome looking. Intimidating. Scary. The scales, the armor,
the spiky tail, the teeth. The half grin, as though it’s contem-plating
some inner-species joke about how the vulnerable,
defenseless human just thinks it’s at the top of the food chain.
We’ve all seen the nature shows where the unsuspecting
antelope goes to the waterhole for a drink only to be grabbed
by the huge prehistoric lizard with the big jaws and teeth.
“You see an alligator, and it scares the crap out of you,”
Howard says.
But if you live in the Wilmington area and have a close
encounter of the gator kind, fear not.
“Historically alligators are looking for rodents usually first,
birds second, and then opportunistic,” Howard says. “That
may be fish, snakes, lizards, frogs, anything it can get its hands
on. The only time that they’re going to mess with you is if
you’re getting in their way of doing something.”
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