As more people are move into traditional alligator habitats, 11 Southeastern states have launched the GatorWise website with pointers about how to minimize problems while living among the dangerous reptiles.
Destruction of wetland habitats where American alligators have lived is occurring throughout the Southeast due to an influx of land development since more people are living there.
“Some states are beginning to see an uptick in nuisance alligator reports and sightings, and some of these reports are simply that an alligator exists somewhere people hadn’t seen one before,” herpetologist Amanda Bryant, of the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission, stated in a May 27 web notice. “Some states, like Florida, have done an excellent job of spreading awareness about alligator behavior and safety, and we wanted to work together to have a cohesive message throughout the American alligator’s range.”
She noted the GatorWise.org website contains useful tips. She added that “keeping an eye out before entering the water in alligator habitat and keeping your pets on a leash and away from the shoreline will go a long way in preventing alligator conflicts.”
In mid-May, the educational website was unveiled to promote safety between the public and wild alligators. The states behind GatorWise are Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas.
“The introduction of GatorWise is important because information about how humans should behave around alligators is similar across the Southeast, but until now, each state has had to manage their own outreach sites and information,” Morgan Hart, alligator biologist, noted in a May 19 announcement by the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources. “We hope that being able to reference a central place for information will help people and alligators coexist safely.”
The state agency explained that continued “significant human development” is expected within American alligator habitats in Southeastern states. “Alligators are a robust species that can thrive in areas where development occurs, as long as the people in these areas understand how to responsibly coexist with them,” SCDNR added.
The American alligator is a federally protected species and among North America’s largest reptiles. The name alligator can be traced back to Spanish explorers who called them “el lagarto” (the lizard).
While most people don’t think of Tennessee as having alligators, the reptiles are appearing in confirmed sightings in the southwestern areas in the state.
“What we’re seeing are alligators naturally expanding their range into Tennessee from the southern border states,” says Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency on its website. “The TWRA has not stocked or released any alligators in Tennessee and we would like to remind everyone that possessing or releasing alligators in Tennessee is illegal and poses safety and ecological risks. Alligators expanding into Tennessee is just another species that we must learn to coexist with.”
TWRA is reminding people to refrain from feeding or harassing the alligators, which are a protected species. “Videos have circulated recently on the internet of people poking at and interacting with alligators in Tennessee, which falls under the State of Tennessee’s definition of harassing wildlife and you could be cited for any incidents of interacting with them,” TWRA says.
Alicia Wassmer, wildlife biologist with the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission, said in May 19 press announcement that people need to learn more about living among alligators. “As development continues to expand into once-remote areas where alligators live, we need to become GatorWise in order to safely share the land with this species,” Wassmer said. “Urbanization is projected to increase at exponential rates in areas where alligator habitat occurs. This continuous conversion of natural spaces, coupled with a constant influx of newcomers who may not know that alligators are here or aren’t familiar with alligator behavior, have amplified the need for state wildlife resource agencies to proactively connect residents and visitors with vital information on how to coexist responsibly with the alligators that live in these communities.”
GatorWise Tips about Keeping Safe around Alligators
The GatorWise website encourages people to learn where alligators live in the different Southeastern states since each state has different alligator ranges and habitats.
- Assume alligators are present whenever you are near a body of water so keep your distance. (The reptiles are experts at hiding and may be in places where you have never seen them, especially after storms or floods.)
- Never feed alligators on purpose or accidentally.
- Don’t dispose of fish or food scraps in the water.
- Never harass, capture, or handle an alligator and remain a distance away.
- Be aware by paying attention to alligator warning signs, staying out of water if you see an alligator there. (Don’t swim in water with dense vegetation and only swim during the daylight.)
- Watch out for people and pets every time you are in or near water. (Keep pets on a leash away from the water’s edge and supervise small children near water.
A South Carolina factsheet by the SCDNR offers advice for what to do when attacked by a gator. “In the rare event that you are attacked, awareness of alligator behavior may save your life. Alligators clamp down with powerful jaws, then twist and roll. If an alligator bites your arm, it may help to grab the alligator and roll with it to reduce tearing of the arm. Strike the nose of the alligator hard and often, and try to gouge the eyes. If at all possible, do not allow the alligator to pull you into the water.”
States With American Alligators
Florida has 1.3 million alligators that live in all of the state’s 67 counties. “In recent years, Florida has experienced tremendous human population growth. Many residents seek waterfront homes, and increasingly participate in water-related activities. This can result in more frequent alligator-human interactions, and a greater potential for conflict,” says the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.
Another state with a sizeable population of American alligators is Louisiana, which is also home to about 1 million alligators. In Louisiana, alligators live mostly along the state’s coastal marshes but also can be found in its canals, bayous, rivers and swamps. The Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries manages American alligators as a commercial renewable natural resource by allowing wild harvesting through hunting and alligator farms where 1 million are raised. According to LDWF, Louisiana alligator farmers in 2019 harvested 438,577 farm-raised alligators valued at an estimated $86 million.
Alabama’s American alligators are found throughout the state. The number has grown significantly within the past 50 years to become a public nuisance in some areas and “now cause hundreds of complaints annually from citizens concerned about public safety,” according to the state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources. Consequently, hunting is allowed annually to curb alligator populations.
In Arkansas, larger concentrations of the gators tend to live in the state’s southeastern and the southwestern corners where there are large shallow water marshes and swamps. The state’s diminishing American alligators rebounded from being decimated due to hunting and lost habitat due to restocking efforts from 1970s to early 1980s that released over 2,840 American alligators from Louisiana.
Georgia is thought to have some 250,000 American alligators living primarily along the Fall Line (a geological boundary between the Piedmont and Coastal Plain regions) and around Augustus, Columbus and Macon. “They are found in marshes, swamps, rivers, farm ponds and lakes in the wild, but also have been found in ditches, neighborhoods, drainage canals, roadways, golf course ponds and sometimes in swimming pools,” according to an Alligator Fact Sheet from the wildlife division of Georgia Department of Natural Resources.
The agency publicized the GatorWise information on its website May 29. “As the weather warms up and people are spending more time outdoors, it’s a great time to remind everyone that it is normal to see alligators moving around and basking in rivers, ponds and lakes in the southern part of the state,” said Kara Nitschke, state wildlife resources division alligator biologist. “Alligators are native to Georgia and are critical to the health and balance of our ecosystems, so being GatorWise means we know how to modify our behavior to minimize any potential conflict.”
Mississippi has between 32,000 and 38,000 alligators. The area with the most (nearly 25%) is Jackson County, followed by Hancock County. Both counties are at the tip of the Gulf coastline. However, people living in Rankin County are more likely to come across gators there due to higher concentrations. State officials determines alligator populations by counting at night the shines from alligator eyes using lights to document how many alligator eyeballs they find, which appear as orange under the illumination.
“Night-light surveys over the last three years indicate that Rankin County has the highest alligator densities in the state, averaging 7.35 alligators per mile along survey routes, versus an average of 1.76 alligators per mile for the rest of the state. Most of the Rankin County alligator population is located in and around Ross Barnett Reservoir and in the Pearl River to Ratliff Ferry,” says the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks.
North Carolina’s gators tend to live north of Albemarle Sound, south along the eastern coast and as far west as in Robeson County. The two southernmost coastal counties of New Hanover and Brunswick are where most of the alligator nuisance reports originate.
The state passed a law nearly 20 years ago to deter people from feeding alligators. “Alligators are usually shy and secretive in nature. If fed, they can lose their natural fear of humans and learn to associate people with an easy meal,” stated the North Carolina Alligator Management Plan, issued in 2017 by the NCWRC. “The perception many individuals have that every alligator is a dangerous nuisance, misconceptions about alligator behavior and biology, public unawareness that alligators exist in North Carolina, and the transient nature of human populations in some areas (e.g., military bases, vacation destinations, recreational areas) all contribute to the need for a strong and continual education and outreach program to keep the public informed.”
South Carolina’s alligators live in coastal marsh areas but can be found in retention ponds, rivers, streams and lakes. Each year there are from 300 to 350 alligators removed and euthanized due to public safety concerns to people and pets. The SCDNR does not relocate alligators because they return to their habitats. “Alligators have a strong homing instinct. Adult alligators will attempt to return home even after they’ve been moved many miles, crossing anything in their way to get back, including backyards and highways,” SCDNR says.
American alligators in Oklahoma live primarily in isolated areas and marshlands in the state’s southeastern corner. The counties with the most alligators in Oklahoma are Choctaw and McCurtain.
In Texas, American alligators live in a wide swath from the tip of the state in Brownsville at the Gulf up to the entire eastern side. “With the human population in Texas continuing to expand, increased contact between people and alligators can be expected,” noted a Texas Parks & Wildlife Department factsheet. “Alligators naturally shy away from humans. However, problems do arise when people feed alligators because the alligator loses its fear of humans and begins to associate people with food. This produces a potentially dangerous situation. An alligator that has been frequently hand-fed will often lunge at an outstretched hand. This action is often interpreted as an ‘alligator attack’ when in reality the alligator has been conditioned to respond to an outstretched hand expecting to be fed. For this reason, it is wrong to feed any wild alligator.”
Importance of American Alligators in Ecosystem
Alligators are thought to have a key role in balancing wetland ecosystems. They can live as long as 50 years in the wild and are vulnerable to being killed by predators while they are young and less than four feet long. Raccoons, bears, otters and hogs are known to eat alligator eggs in nests. Young gators can become the prey of otters, fish, raccoons, wading birds and even larger alligators.
Researchers are examining links between climate change and mitigation strategies such as the use of natural carbon stored in soils. Soil contains carbon stores from naturally decomposed plants. A recently published study by Christopher M. Murray, Tyler S. Coleman, Wray Gabel and Ken Krauss looked at the role American alligators play in wetland ecosystems as potentially helping to regulate carbon stored in soil. “Results indicate that American alligator presence is positively correlated with soil carbon stock across habitats within their native distribution,” noted a U.S. Geological Service article on the study, “American Alligators (Alligator Mississippiensis) as Wetland Ecosystem Carbon Stock Regulators.”
Despite the encroachment of people in their natural habitats, alligators remain an important predator regulating ecosystem populations in the nation’s wetlands.
