14 foot gator at Noxubee Refuge

[FlabLoser]

A 14 foot gator was found dead at the NR. He is thought to be one of 6 gators released there in 1969 to stock the area with gators.

http://www.thereznews.com/2013/06/huge-gator-found-dead-in-noxubee-wr.html#more

Why does anybody stock a place with alligators? Beaver control?

 

[Shmuley]

"We're going to need a bigger bucket."

 

[Duckdawg]

Gotta be the same one that was out there in the late 80's. It used to hang out on a mud flat right next to the levee. I asked a game warden about it after I saw that monster and he told me they had caught it at one time. They tranquilized it and did all the measurements. It was over 14' and weighed around 1000 lbs.

 

[DesotoCountyDawg]

I believe he was the one they had a picture of in the ranger station down there. Massive.

 

[starkvegasdawg]

I remember going out to the refuge for my labs in wildlife biology in the 90's we would see that thing out there almost every sunny day. We all knew he was huge but had no idea it was that big?

These were probably flown in as part of a restocking effort introducing them back to their native range where they may been locally extinct.

Since they are good at beaver control maybe we should fly some into Omaha.

 

[DesotoCountyDawg]

I remember during the drought in summer of 2000 going down there and seeing all them piled into the one little area of water out there and that big one was right in the middle.

 

[seshomoru]

There were a few AGR guys on my floor freshmen year and we would take the PGM students from up North out gator spotting. Always fun to watch somebody seeing their first gator.

 

[codeDawg]

Well, there is no shortage of them now. Especially on the Tenn-Tom tributaries e.g. Tibbee Creek.

 

[Snog]

A 14 foot gator was found dead at the NR. He is thought to be one of 6 gators released there in 1969 to stock the area with gators.

http://www.thereznews.com/2013/06/huge-gator-found-dead-in-noxubee-wr.html#more

Why does anybody stock a place with alligators? Beaver control?

To answer your question, in 1969, gators were still on the endangered list. In 73 we released several on our farm. And yes, people thought they would help with beaver control.