Local excitement over reports of a 6-foot alligator lounging around at the Sixth Avenue river access in Melbourne Beach revealed that relative newcomers to the area may or may not be conversant in how best to cohabit their neighborhoods with some of Florida’s oldest native residents.
“As long as no one feeds it, we are fine,” said one response to a social media post about the gator sighting.
“Recently moved here so excuse me if this is a dumb question – for some reason I was under the impression that there weren’t gators around here on the beachside,” said another.
Some questioned whether they should be paddle boarding nearby, while others thought he, or she, deserved a name, other than “The 6th Avenue Alligator.”
Curtis Byrd, chairman of the Melbourne Beach Environmental Advisory Board and longtime resident, said he personally hasn’t seen many alligators in town over the past two decades.
“It’s very rare, I saw two in the last twenty years,” Byrd said. “One was an 8-footer that was on the beach. It crossed over from the golf course.”
His advice? Just stay clear, and if it’s on land, call the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) to report.
Melbourne Beach resident Olyne “Libby” Brown-Brock said she has never seen an alligator in town.
“Although, I have not come across an alligator unexpectedly in the wild, I would think keeping a safe distance would be the common-sense response should such an experience occur,” Brown-Brock said.
According to the FWC, every county in Florida has alligators. They live in fresh water, and sometimes even in salt water. In all, they estimate there are more than 1 million alligators in Florida.
In “A Guide to Living with Alligators” the FWC offers these guidelines for dealing with our reptilian neighbors.
· n Never feed them. Not only is it illegal, it’s also very dangerous because it creates an association for them between humans and food. Alligators rarely bite humans for reasons other than food.
n ·If you want to take a photograph, do so from a distance.
n ·Pay close attention to your surroundings; it’s not always easy to see one that’s right in front of you.
n ·Swim in marked swimming areas only, and never in an area where alligators have been spotted, especially at night, when they are most active. And that includes your pets.
n ·Leave them alone. It’s against the law to harass, kill or handle alligators.
The FWC says that alligators are a vital part of the local landscape. As predators, they help balance the populations of other aquatic animals, and serve an important ecological purpose.
For more information about alligators in Florida, visit https://myfwc.com.