Visitors to South Carolina’s Fripp Island Golf & Beach Resort were called out for throwing carrots at a mature, 11-foot alligator and reminded that harassment of the animals is punishable by $200—“or in this case, $200 per carrot.” Feeding alligators can also lead to 30 days of jail time under South Carolina law, in part because the animals become aggressive when they are fed by humans and then see them as a food resource.
On April 6th, The Island Packet of Bluffton, S.C. reported, the Activity Center at the Fripp Island Golf & Beach Resort in Saint Helena, S.C. called out visitors who threw carrots at a mature 11-foot alligator, classifying their actions as “a new level of stupid” and reminding the perpetrators that the fine for harassing alligators is $200—“or $200 per carrot in this case.”
Violators could also face up to 30 days in jail for feeding alligators if convicted, according to South Carolina state law, The Island Packet reported, noting that when alligators are fed by humans, they associate humans as a food resource, which makes them aggressive.
In its Facebook post reprimanding the action and showing photos of carrots that had landed on the alligator, the managers of the Activity Center said “Fripp Island Security has a description of the people responsible and is on the lookout,” The Island Packet reported.
The perpetrators who threw the carrots were lucky because the alligator didn’t respond to the harassment and “later slunk back into the water once the sun started going down,” Fripp Island naturalist Jessica Miller told The Island Packet.
“But this gator could have interpreted the tossed items as food and learned people are a source of food,” Miller said. “Once that behavior is observed, the gator has to be caught and put down, before that nuisance behavior turns into an attack on a person.
Despite state laws and efforts to educate the public, people—including tourists and locals—still continue to find it amusing to feed or throw things at alligators to try to get a reaction, The Island Packet reported. Between 2012 and March 2017, 16 tickets have been written in Beaufort (S.C.) County for violating alligator codes, and 143 tickets throughout the state overall, The Island Packet reported, with feeding the most common code violation reported by officials with the state’s Department of Natural Resources.
Those responsible for throwing the carrots had not been caught as of the next morning, Miller told The Island Packet, and the property’s security personnel had to guard the gator after the incident was reported, until he eventually went out of view. “Many of our big gators have no response to humans other than to slink away when they get too close,” Miller said. “But the closer people get to him, the more habituated he will get to them, and it will become more likely that this gator acts out of defense.”
South Carolina alligators move more in the springtime, The Island Packet reported, as they make their way into warmer waters after hibernating during the winter, and their movement patterns change as it gets closer to mating season. But that’s no reason to worry, experts say.
“These animals are really simple,” Miller said. “They like to be in their water or bask right by it. We just need to stay back. When they do move pond to pond, the big ones like this know exactly where they are going, and their destination is the only thing on their mind.”
While alligator attacks are extremely rare in South Carolina,The Island Packet reported, wildlife experts say that most of them occur when humans behave irresponsibly by feeding, poking, or swimming near the animals.
Disturbing Fripp Island’s 11-footer “would be such a shame for this big dude,” Miller said, noting that he is currently sharing a pond on the property with his “girlfriend” and hatchlings from last year.
“By giving these awesome prehistoric predators space, we can live along side them,” Miller added, reiterating why the resort’s management took quick action to remind visitors that feeding or throwing food at alligators “will not be tolerated.”
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