Alligator Control

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Damage and Damage Identification

Damage by alligators is usually limited to injuries or death to humans or domestic animals.
Most alligator bites occur in Florida, which has documented approximately 140 unprovoked
attacks from 1972 to 1991, or about 7 per year. Since 1972, 5 deaths have been positively
attributed to alligators. Historically, nonfatal attacks have also been documented in South
Carolina (8), Louisiana (2), Texas (1), Georgia (1), and Alabama (1). Alligators inflict damage
with their sharp, cone-shaped teeth and powerful jaws. Bites are characterized by puncture
wounds and/or torn flesh. Alligators, like other crocodilians that take large prey, prefer to
seize an appendage and twist it off by spinning. Many serious injuries have involved badly
damaged and broken arms on humans and legs on animals. Sometimes alligators bite or
eat previously drowned persons. Coroners can usually determine whether a person drowned
before or after being bitten. Stories of alligators breaking the legs of full grown men with their
tails are unfounded. Alligators sometimes excavate extensive burrows or dens for refuges
from cold temperatures, drought, and predators (other alligators and humans). Burrowing by
alligators can damage dikes in impoundments.

Food Habits

Alligators are exclusively carnivorous and prey upon whatever creatures are most
available. Juvenile alligators (less than 4 feet [1.2 m]) eat crustaceans, snails, and
small fish; sub-adults (4 to 6 feet [1.2 to 1.8 m]) eat mostly fish, crustaceans, small
mammals, and birds; and adults (greater than 6 feet [1.8 m]) eat fish, mammals,
turtles, birds, and >other alligators. Diets are range-dependent; in Louisiana coastal
marshes, adult alligators feed primarily on nutria (Myocastor coypus), whereas in
Florida and northern Louisiana, rough fish and turtles comprise most of the diet.
Recent studies in Florida and Louisiana indicate that cannibalism is common among
alligators. Alligators readily take domestic dogs and cats. In rural areas, larger
alligators take calves, foals, goats, hogs, domestic waterfowl, and occasionally, full
grown cattle and horses.

** Note: Misidentification of an American Alligator and subspecies occurs often, and mostly
where beaver are present. When a beaver want to warn an intruder, it will dive, and while doing
so, slap it's tail on the surface of the water as a warning. This creates an audible noise that
draws attention to it, but the tail is whats observed, and mistaken as an alligator. However, if
you suspect an alligator in your waters or on your property, stay away from the area and
contact us immediately. Thank you: