Alligators - best avoided - safety tips

Problem
How do you catch an alligator.

Answer
Stay away and call an expert.

Or go to alligator catcher training classes.

Story
I just read about an American dental practitioner who catches alligators. One method is to sit on its back. If you can get near. (While somebody else who is braver and equally strong holds its jaws together. Assuming you are a heavyweight person or have a few friends who weight more than the alligator.)

Then you need the tape to tie up the jaws or you are stuck holding on all day. Plus the ties to fasten its feet together. And watch out that it doesn't swipe you or some other innocent with its tail.

Frankly, the best thing is to stay at a distance.

Brave lady. But the article mentions that 'only one' person died?

Well, there's the small child in Florida, plus a person recently in Australia. That's just the two I remember from the past six months without bothering to research. Plus, of course, the missing people.

It depends how you look at the statistics. Nobody died in the local swimming pool /pond / golf course in the last five minutes. Or so many nationwide or worldwide in the last year, decade or century.

All credit to her because it's brave, trained experts like her, carrying the right equipment, who help keep the figures down.

However, the telling figure for me was when an alligator worker in a Florida theme park
said he could not get life and accident insurance.

I goggled alligator safety and found this website:
http://www.sccf.org/content/45/Alligators.aspx

As far as I can see (on the website) - in real life they recommend carrying binoculars - you need to keep many feet away. And alligators over a certain size are not always protected. It may vary from state to state or country to country. Check local laws.

Tips
Read about the dangers first so you are well informed. Then check for and obey any warning signs.

http://heavy.com/news/2016/06/fatal-alligator-attacks-florida-lane-graves-orlando-disney-victims/

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.