When Alligators Attack Allentown!
Okay, this is a new one -- a six-foot-long alligator was caught in Allentown. No, seriously. Local odds are that it's someone escaped pet, or that it was let go when it got to be too much to handle
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American alligator numbers have recovered and even exploded somewhat since conservation began; and young, mature gators have been found travelling north in search of unclaimed territory to settle in during summer temperatures.
The occasional gator roaming as far north as Ohio has been reported once in a while, going back at least a hundred years as well. So this is not a new phenomenon either.
6 or so feet seems to be about dispersal size; every report I am aware of regarding roaming gators far out of their normal territory puts them at around that size.
So 6 feet is probably just large enough that they can take care of themselves against the average predator in the wild, (cougar, bobcat, wolf or coyote.) But too small to challenge a mature bull for territory- as well as being big enough for the dominant male to decide they are large enough to notice and chase off.
That would give them incentive to roam, and its not unbelievable that some might get a taste for exploration and go farther than is wise in search of new horizons.
That would last as long as the summer heat lasts..
I imagine quite a few that roam too far north die in the first real cold snap; burying themselves in the mud of a creek, pond or river bottom, so that the body is never found.
I also remember the smallish gator, (3-4 feet long) that was sighted in a duck pond in Berkeley, near San Francisco in the 90s that evaded capture by game wardens for around a full month before it was finally trapped and removed.
So we see this sort of thing out here, too.
-Badger-
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