Juniper springs and why the lady got ate.

[swamprat]

These pictures are from the spring run where the lady was attacked three weeks ago. She was snorkeling and came around a bend and suprised a big gator and the results were not pretty. The spring run is pretty but looking at these pictures should explain why , or maybe how somebody that doesn't understand basic critter behavior could get hurt really quick.

The beginning of the run

This one gives you an idea of how tight it is in there.

At times there were more boats than this stacked up and very little room to move.

I saw just two smaller gators on the whole run but there was sign of allot more. In this kind of situation it is just an accident waiting to happen. I guess I'm just posting these in defense of the gators. This so called attack was nothing more than a wrong place wrong time thing. The poor dead lady came around one of these bends in snorkle gear and suprised a big gator and when the gator landed on her it bit whatever was in its way because it had no other means of defense and no room to run. To bad it was her head the gator bit...... I apologize if I sound like I'm up on a soap box here but the media has blown all of these "attacks" so far out of proportion. Todays paddle made what I had suspected pretty clear. No attack at all but just a wild critter acting like it was supposed to.

 

[Kayak Jack]

Two sanity tests I'm aware of are:

1. Someone breaks into your home, you hear the noise & grab a shot gun. AFTER you rack the pump slide to pump in a new shell, the perpetrator keeps advancing towards you. S/He just flunked a sanity test.

2. Waters or territory where it is common knowledge there are dangerous critters around, and a person rudely (and beset with terminal stupidity) barges into their territory anyway. S/He just flunked a sanity test.

That is why they have the Darwin Awards.

 

[oldsparkey]

Yep ... That is Juniper Springs run and I take for granted you pulled out at the landing there on 19 and did not go all the way down to Lake George.

That is the trouble with a lot of folks when it comes to wild life, they forget we are trespassing in there homes or territories. They live there we are nothing more then an unwelcome visitor, especially if we don't understand there ways.

As far as the news media, Please don't get me started on those one side, opinionated, no brain %@$&*!# persons that think if it is not bleeding, dead or dying then it is not worth printing or telling about in there twisted way at the 6pm broadcast. :evil:

Chuck
PS. When it comes to the news ... Believe only 1/3 of what you read and 1/2 of what you see.

 

[bearridge]

I blame Ole Walt Disney.

regards
bearridge

There is much to be said in favor of modern journalism. By giving us the opinions of the uneducated, it keeps us in touch with the ignorance of the community. Oscar Wilde

 

[Biloxi Bacon]

Nice pictures and beautiful natural scenery. In that first image, with the overhanging palmetto, it looks like a manicured garden. I'd love to see that.

Just recently, a friend and I were recalling when we had free flowing artesian springs 'round here. But, that'll never happen again.

We've got gators here on the Mississippi Coast. I've seen them throughout my life in our bayous and even in the briny water around our barrier islands. I've heard of pets disappearing with evidence that a gator ate 'em. But, never of any humans being bit.

 

[oldsparkey]

Just for the record......

There is a guy in this area that likes to study Gators and take unusual pictures of them. His favorite places are the gator farms, tourist traps and the rest that have gators swimming in a large pond and being fed by people.

This in my way of thinking would make the gators look at people as food or a food source. Remember the gators are captive and can't go anywhere so they have to be fed plus the tourists like to see them jump out of the water for a dead chicken or the guy who is holding the chicken if he is not quick on the release.
OK so far I believe you are following my thoughts.

What this guy does is to quietly and without making any splash ease into the water (pond) where these gators are and then swim with them so he can get some close up (unusual) pictures of them. He also studies there bodily movements to find out what they are possibly thinking. Like, OK, Buddy you are to close move over, that chicken is mine, don't crowd me.

He has swam with a ton of them, big boys, and has never been bitten. If I remember correctly his thoughts were to move very slowly and in a non aggressive manner to be safe.

I never said he was sane and personally ... there is no way you could or would ever get me to do that. I am sure with all of the swimming I have done and still do down here in these rivers and lakes I have been close to one or more of them but as long as I don't know ..... that is all I want to know.

I will take my pictures of them from the boat. By the way I was at the local gator farm one day when a smaller gator got out of its area and ventured into the lake (pond) where the big boys are and you never will see a feeding frenzy like the one those big boys did getting that littler gator. Did did not stand a snow balls chance in Hades. To say he was history is an understatment.

Chuck.

 

[AntiqFreq]

salt springs rec area

I was in Salt Springs over Memorial weekend, swimming at the spring,
then we went for a little canoe ride, only about maybe 1/2 mile out.
The boats were crazy that weekend and we were afraid we'd get swamped in that waterway.

But even only about 1/4 mile out - we saw a gator just basking in the sun and one in the waterway.

People were swimming only 1/4 mile from his spot. He could just turn around
and grab a kid or two as they were floating around their boats!

You need to pay attention to where you are and what you are doing -
this is THEIR spot, not ours, respect it! --I sure do-- I keep my rear
in my canoe at ALL times!

Jo :roll:

 

[Swampy]

Great thoughts here.
Gators are wild .... where they live is either considered by some as "civilized" or "wild" .... as gar as the Gator is conserned, it's all home.

Will they one day take a young child that has swam that section of a river his intire life? Yep!

Will a gator who has been watched for many a month on a local golf course attack a golfer on that course? Yep!

When they are sunning they need an "escape route" .... and true, when your in that path of retreat , you may become a part of their defensive plan.

swampy