alligator on breakers reef

[Walter]

Rick, some of your photos are misleading. The hanging gator is a 13 ft monster killed near West Columbia, Texas in 2005. The alligator with a deer is a photo taken in 2004 in south Georgia near the SC border. The gator is approximately 12 - 14 feet long, not 23 feet (a 12 ft gator is still huge). Check snopes.

 

[RickI]

Got me Walter as I wasn't there. I did provide the link for the source of the photos and information which appears below. Is it accurate or did they make it up?

"This picture on the right was taken by a Life- flight helicopter flying over Lake Istapoka, (Lake Istapoka is near Sebring, Fl.) (the gator with the deer) That has to be a HUGE gator to have a whole deer in its mouth! Are you ready to go fishing on Lake Istapoka ?! If you ski -- try not to fall.

Mon, 1 Aug, 2006, the alligator was found be- tween Lake Istapoka and Pinedale estates... near a house. Game Wardens were forced to shoot the alligator- guess he wouldn't cooperate. Jayne and Don Hobkirk could hear the bellow- ing in the night. Their neighbors had been tell- ing them that they had seen a mammoth alliga- tor in the Lake that runs behind their house, but they dismissed the stories as being exag- gerations. "I didn't believe it," Don Hobkirk said. Friday they realized the stories were, if anything, understated. Florida Game and
Parks game wardens had to shoot the beast...

Left, Joe Goff, 6' 5" tall, a game warden with the Florida Game and Parks Commission, walks past the 23’ 1” alligator that he shot and killed in the back yard of Jayne & Don Hobkirk. (hanging gator).
You can see these photos in color and larger on our website,
http://www.rivertalknews.com/040407-05.pdf "

 

[RickI]

(duplicate post)

 

[Walter]

Hanging gator

Gator & deer

There are large gators in Florida, but neither of these were from Florida. Also, neither of them was close to 23 feet (largest on record was 19 feet, 2 inches).

Interesting gator facts

 

[Ed Jackson1]

Nice find Laz.

We still hate you for that great seahorse photo.

Ed

 

[Scuba_Jenny]

WOW! That's incredible! Too bad the chap's likelihood of survival is slim...

 

[RickI]

Not that familiar with snopes.com: Urban Legends Reference Pages. They provide the final word on post accuracy through peer review or common acclamation? The opportunity for misinformation and abuse certainly exists on the Internet. For instance, google "Joe Goff, 6' 5" tall, a game warden" you will receive over 700 hits with locales ranging from Florida, Texas and even Alabama. Who in their right mind would want to lie about something like this hanging out in their neighborhood?

 

[Walter]

Not that familiar with snopes.com: Urban Legends Reference Pages. They provide the final word on post accuracy through peer review or common acclamation?

They do research and they tell you their sources. Check with their sources. Are they always right? No. In fact, they've intentionally posted incorrect information in an attempt to get us to be critical and to check multiple sources. Don't accept what they say blindly, but do be extremely critical of any information you have if snopes tells you it's not correct. Look deeper.

Don't trust snopes about Mr. Ed.

 

[Scuba_Jenny]

IMHO, Snopes.com is very reliable. It is a husband/wife team who do the research.

 

[Chugwhump]

I dig Snopes.

And as to the Hammerhead I encountered off of Palm Beach I alluded to in an earlier post, It was truly not an inch over 29'

I apologize to all for my reckless exaggeration.

Chug
Glad to be here.