If people in Florida didn't swim in lakes and rivers where alligators live, there would be a lot of hot dry people in Florida. People and alligators share water all the time in the South, and alligator attacks are pretty rare. What if they had been partying at Daytona Beach and gone for a midnight swim in the ocean and gotten shark bit? Would you still shake your head and say "What was he thinking?"? From wikitravel: "The American Alligator CAN be a very dangerous predator but, despite a very strange outbreak of fatal attacks last year, it rarely attacks humans. Avoid interacting with alligators during mating season, and you will be fine. It is extremely common in the Everglades and it is estimated that more than 1 million alligators reside in Florida alone... Take those numbers and measure them against the amount of people who swim in Florida's rivers each year and you will find that the chance of attack is very low." Time, 5/21/06: "The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission records an average of about seven alligator attacks every year" which fits with (http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/fish/Sharks/attacks/relariskgator.htm): "A Comparison of Shark Attacks and Fatalities with the American Alligator Attacks and Fatalities in the U.S.: 1948-2005 Alligator Shark Attacks Fatalities Attacks Fatalities Florida 351 17 509 8" Maybe the "late at night" part is meaningful, I dunno. Steve > Craig Jungers said: > >> Here is another to add to the list. An 18-year-old boy in Florida was >> partying with his pals on the shores of Lake Okeechobee late at > night........... > >> The inevitable question is, "what was he thinking?"............. -- Steve Cramer Athens, GA http://www.savvypaddler.com *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************Received on Wed Jun 25 2008 - 11:01:30 PDT
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