From the Star Telegrm,
"John Davis, an urban wildlife biologist in Cedar Hill said that local sightings are infrequent but that most come from Lewisville Lakeand Lake Worth. There was also a sighting last year in Grand Prairie near a tributary of the Trinity River.
Davis advises people to give an alligator the same respect and distance they would any wild animal. Most importantly, Davis said, people shouldnt feed alligators. Its against the law and causes the reptiles to associate people with food.
Alligators have been found in 120 of Texass 254 counties. Their habitat basically extends from Interstate 35 eastward across the state.
Fort Worth is on the western edge of that habitat, and the local alligator population is believed to be fairly small.
Texas Parks and Wildlife has no statewide population estimate for alligators but they believe there are 250,000 in Chambers, Jefferson and Orange counties, which are believed to have the highest number in the state.
The biggest headaches occur around Houston, in Harris and Fort Bend counties, where developers are draining marshes and building ponds next to subdivisions. Those ponds soon become home to alligators whose habitat has been destroyed.
And when residents move in, theyre shocked to learn they have gators for neighbors.
At some point, were going to have to learn to live with them their habitat is shrinking, Cooper said. In some places, were going to see the population annihilated. "
Makes me sick that this animal may have been killed.
