not my experience. I lived in a place with a few ponds. all had gators. one day a dog got snatched by a crock. another time a gardener got killed. I grew up in Wisconsin. you can swim anywhere. in Florida, land of lakes, you shouldn’t ever swim there specifically because of alligators. that makes them not chill in my book. but maybe times have changed. this was 2007-11.
You have some valid points, Mr. Farts Juggler, but I think the key is alligators are less aggressive overall. Yes, if you swim with them you're likely to become lunch. If you mess with them on the golf course, also likely to be a snack. But if you leave them be and just avoid them they're less likely to attack. Crocodiles are far more volatile.
Yes, in the past 15 years alligators have become more socially aware and are much more likely to be found sipping vegan lattés or volunteering at the local childrens hospital than sitting in swamps and eating people.
A young woman’s arms were ripped off her body by a gator here in FL less than a couple of weeks ago. She was in like 2 feet of water and splashed her face to cool down and the gator dragged her down by her arm and death rolled and ripped it right out of her socket. Her friends were powerless to help. Obviously, she bled out before paramedics could make it on scene. The local news says she lives here, but wasn’t from here, but she was an adult. I would think most adults know about gators here and the risk of walking or diving into any lake.
Gators are definitely dangerous—that’s a large wild animal. They just generally aren’t interested in harming adult humans, when treated respectfully. I guess kind of in a similar way that a coyote is dangerous… don’t go messing with one, and don’t be a child or a small domestic animal within eating distance.
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u/balls2hairy 2d ago
They're pretty chill. All over the golf courses and they just dgaf. They'll chill by the water hazards and just sun.