This website has been critical of the S.C. Department of Natural Resources (SCDNR) under Gov. Nikki Haley – particularly the agency’s efforts to unnecessarily raise fees on Palmetto State hunters, boaters and fishermen. Then there was the agency’s ham-fisted effort to muzzle its employees from speaking out against Haley’s infamous “Savannah River Sellout” – a scandal which helped result in the ouster of Haley’s hand-picked SCDNR chairwoman.
Surely there’s something this agency is good at, though … right? Right?
Apparently there is one thing: Catching alligators.
For example, when residents of Bennettsville, S.C. found an 11-foot-long Alligator mississippiensis wandering the streets of their town they called their local sheriff office, who in turn called SCDNR. An agent responded and – after much exertion – corralled the animal and loaded it into a truck.
So far so good, right? Sure …
Course this is where South Carolina’s worst-in-the-nation public education system comes into play … as it does in virtually every story we cover.
“The alligator was released into a nearby pond, where DNR believes it was living,” local television station WPDE TV 15 (ABC – Florence/ Myrtle Beach, S.C.) reported.
Wait … what?
SCDNR took the friggin’ thing to a “nearby pond?”
Nice thinking, guys …
For those of you keeping score at home: Alligator 1, Bennettsville, S.C. 0.
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30 comments
1. How was this the wrong response? 2. Your answer would be to kill it? 3. Why? And, finally, 4: Is there anything, no matter how ignorant you may be of the subject matter, that you’re unwilling to opine about?
Bingo. Every other white trash redneck would salivate over killing this creature for a trophy on his wall. Fucking pussies.
I’ve heard alligator meat is good. Nothing wrong with killing a creature you intend to eat, unless they’re endangered.
My answer would be relocation to somewhere far away from humans or put into the care of a suitable alligator sanctuary, given its size. Then again we do have alligators in public parks, just see Charleston.
1. How was this the wrong response? 2. Your answer would be to kill it? 3. Why? And, finally, 4: Is there anything, no matter how ignorant you may be of the subject matter, that you’re unwilling to opine about?
Bingo. Every other white trash redneck would salivate over killing this creature for a trophy on his wall. Fucking pussies.
I’ve heard alligator meat is good. Nothing wrong with killing a creature you intend to eat, unless they’re endangered.
My answer would be relocation to somewhere far away from humans or put into the care of a suitable alligator sanctuary, given its size. Then again we do have alligators in public parks, just see Charleston.
HDF seems to understand as I do, the difference between rural Bennettsville and urban Columbia.
1) “Nearby” in Bennettsville and other rural areas may mean the pond 3 miles away or the one 1 mile away. Or it may mean the river flowing throught the edge of town.
2) Instead of a win the alligator got a reduced sentence and a second chance. If he is a recidivist, his next excursion away from his natural haibitat will be his last….no questions asked.
3) LIke HDF, I find it both amusing and spectacularly arrogant the many things you opine about while displaying a total display of ignorance of the subject matter.
As I find as many examples of your ignorance of the subject matters that I am well versed in it always intrigues me how wrong you may be about matters that I know nothing about.
You know nothing of alligators, Bennettsville, or rural SC. That’s a damn fact, not an opinion.
Well played sir!
HDF seems to understand as I do, the difference between rural Bennettsville and urban Columbia.
1) “Nearby” in Bennettsville and other rural areas may mean the pond 3 miles away or the one 1 mile away. Or it may mean the river flowing throught the edge of town.
2) Instead of a win the alligator got a reduced sentence and a second chance. If he is a recidivist, his next excursion away from his natural haibitat will be his last….no questions asked.
3) LIke HDF, I find it both amusing and spectacularly arrogant the many things you opine about while displaying a total display of ignorance of the subject matter.
As I find as many examples of your ignorance of the subject matters that I am well versed in it always intrigues me how wrong you may be about matters that I know nothing about.
You know nothing of alligators, Bennettsville, or rural SC. That’s a damn fact, not an opinion.
Well played sir!
We’ve got snakes in our legislature and you’re hung up on alligators?
We’ve got snakes in our legislature and you’re hung up on alligators?
I consider it a blessing that they didn’t kill it. Too often, that seems to be DNR’s “solution” to animal problems, especially alligators. Hopefully, this is a sign of better thinking to come, from them.
I consider it a blessing that they didn’t kill it. Too often, that seems to be DNR’s “solution” to animal problems, especially alligators. Hopefully, this is a sign of better thinking to come, from them.
A. We have plenty of gators, so if DNR has to smoke the occasional interloper, no biggie.
B. We lose exactly zero South Carolinians to alligator attacks per year, so if they touchy-feely them back to their home ponds, no biggie. Of course, I don’t want to be the first, so if I run up on a big one in my yard he will probably become a nice set of luggage. I’ll deal with DNR in court…
A. We have plenty of gators, so if DNR has to smoke the occasional interloper, no biggie.
B. We lose exactly zero South Carolinians to alligator attacks per year, so if they touchy-feely them back to their home ponds, no biggie. Of course, I don’t want to be the first, so if I run up on a big one in my yard he will probably become a nice set of luggage. I’ll deal with DNR in court…
You are worried about an alligator when DNR has much bigger issues. Still not sure why they would reinstate a Colonel who was charged with CDV. Even if his wife recanted, it was still on record that he chased her with a broom, kicked her in the butt and pushed her into a door. Is that really the type of person that should be leading the agency’s law enforcement personnel? Given that position is at will, they did not have to reinstate him.
You are worried about an alligator when DNR has much bigger issues. Still not sure why they would reinstate a Colonel who was charged with CDV. Even if his wife recanted, it was still on record that he chased her with a broom, kicked her in the butt and pushed her into a door. Is that really the type of person that should be leading the agency’s law enforcement personnel? Given that position is at will, they did not have to reinstate him.
Alligators are just a minor annoyance compared to the Burmese Pythons that are coming up from Florida. These pythons started out in the Everglades and their numbers are rising and their territory is rapidly expanding north. It’s estimated they will be in our swamps in less than five years. They are a serious danger and Florida has a shoot on sight SOP for dealing with them. Florida doesn’t have a shoot on sight edict for alligators.
These pythons would swallow whole any SCDNR agent that tried to catch it.
Asshole owners who release those bastards into the wild should be forced to catch 10 of those things for every 1 they release.
Alligators are just a minor annoyance compared to the Burmese Pythons that are coming up from Florida. These pythons started out in the Everglades and their numbers are rising and their territory is rapidly expanding north. It’s estimated they will be in our swamps in less than five years. They are a serious danger and Florida has a shoot on sight SOP for dealing with them. Florida doesn’t have a shoot on sight edict for alligators.
These pythons would swallow whole any SCDNR agent that tried to catch it.
Asshole owners who release those bastards into the wild should be forced to catch 10 of those things for every 1 they release.
So I guess some one who attended one of SC’s Worst in the Nation Private Schools would have spent a ton of taxpayer money to transport this creature to a pond in the neighborhood of some poor families leaving its ten brothers and sisters behind in the old pond and think they had accomplished something.
So I guess some one who attended one of SC’s Worst in the Nation Private Schools would have spent a ton of taxpayer money to transport this creature to a pond in the neighborhood of some poor families leaving its ten brothers and sisters behind in the old pond and think they had accomplished something.
Alligators have very small brains and are quite skittish. They aren’t generally a danger to people if they can see the whole person. If you stick a toe in the water near one, he might mistake it for something to eat. Big alligators can be aggressive in their habitat. I think this story is missing some facts. Are you sure it was in “town”? As in, on the sidewalk? If so, that nuisance gator was created by people feeding it. People have fewer alligator problems than alligators have people problems. A caught alligator can be released safely. Best to release it in a pond that’s a bit farther away from town in case it gets wanderlust again.
You sell alligators short and greatly underestimate their capabilities. The gator, submerged, does not just see the toe in the water, he sees the whole person. He has calculated your weight and already made a decision if he will or will not attack you, mostly they don’t. I watched submerged alligator (South Florida) follow a pet dog running back and forth on the bank of a large pond. Warned the owner who thought I was nuts. Pointed out the gator and he picked up the dog and left. They get a lot of their food on land from critters that get too close to the water.
Alligators have very small brains and are quite skittish. They aren’t generally a danger to people if they can see the whole person. If you stick a toe in the water near one, he might mistake it for something to eat. Big alligators can be aggressive in their habitat. I think this story is missing some facts. Are you sure it was in “town”? As in, on the sidewalk? If so, that nuisance gator was created by people feeding it. People have fewer alligator problems than alligators have people problems. A caught alligator can be released safely. Best to release it in a pond that’s a bit farther away from town in case it gets wanderlust again.
You sell alligators short and greatly underestimate their capabilities. The gator, submerged, does not just see the toe in the water, he sees the whole person. He has calculated your weight and already made a decision if he will or will not attack you, mostly they don’t. I watched submerged alligator (South Florida) follow a pet dog running back and forth on the bank of a large pond. Warned the owner who thought I was nuts. Pointed out the gator and he picked up the dog and left. They get a lot of their food on land from critters that get too close to the water.