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Gators for Neighbors 



The Cape Fear River is Charlie's 

 neighborhood. His address, the USS 

 North Carolina. 



He lives there with a couple of 

 buddies, who wile away the summer 

 months stroking in the river or sunning 

 onshore. 



Together, they are easily the best- 

 known alligators in North Carolina, 

 visible to the throng of tourists who 

 pass over the decks of the battleship 

 every year. 



"That's where a lot of 

 people see their one and 

 only North Carolina 

 alligator," says Alvin 

 Braswell, curator of 

 amphibians at the N.C. 

 State Museum of Natural 

 Sciences. 



But unknown to many 

 people, North Carolina is 

 home to more than 1,000 

 alligators. It is the northernmost point 

 along the East Coast where the cold- 

 blooded reptiles will live. 



"There are a lot more gators out 

 there than people think there are," says 

 Bobby Maddrey, a biologist for the 

 N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission. 



Most are not as celebrated or 

 visible as Charlie. They are shy 

 creatures content to lead lives of quiet 

 anonymity. 



But as waterfront development 

 takes off in North Carolina, as homes 

 and golf courses edge into the alliga- 

 tors' habitat, they are being flushed out 

 of hiding. 



It's a phenomenon most easily 

 tracked in phone calls to the Wildlife 

 Resources Commission. 



Maddrey says his office is fielding 

 more questions than ever from people 

 who have spotted an alligator sunning 

 on their waterfront lawn or bobbing 

 near the bank. 



"Mostly people who haven't been 

 living here long have the problems 

 with them," he says. "They can't 

 believe there's an alligator here. They 

 move here from somewhere else, buy 

 a house and the next thing they know 

 they've got an alligator sunning in 

 their yard." 



The conflict is one that Tom 

 Henson, also of the Wildlife Re- 

 sources Commission, tries to cast in a 



positive light. An alligator can be an 

 asset, even a conversation piece, for a 

 homeowner who respects rather than 

 fears it, he says. 



But too often, people want to live 

 close to nature, "in the wild," until the 

 wildlife gets into their backyard. Then 

 they want it gone, says Henson, coast- 

 al non-game and endangered wildlife 

 project leader for the Wildlife Re- 

 sources Commission. 



Alligators that pose no threat to 

 their human neighbors can usually 

 stay put, says Bobby Kaylor, wildlife 

 technician for the Croatan National 

 Forest. 



They were there first. 



The exceptions, however, are 

 gators as large as 10 to 12 feet that 

 have been pulled out of ponds at golf 

 courses or drainage ditches. 



Reptiles of this size are usually 

 moved to more remote sites such as 

 Alligator River off Albemarle Sound 



or Gull Rock in Hyde County. 



In the Croatan National Forest, the 

 territorial gators have set up house- 

 keeping in five lakes, where they can 

 be seen nesting in the spring, Kaylor 

 says. 



Most of them stay hidden from 

 view. 



But as contact between humans 

 and alligators heightens, experts offer 

 some advice: leave the reptiles alone, 

 don't venture at night into 

 the water where they live 

 and never feed them. 



More stealthy than fast, 

 alligators feed on frogs, 

 snakes, fish, ducks, rac- 

 coons and even young deer 

 at the water's edge. They'll 

 also eat a pet if given the 

 opportunity. 



"To me, they're a 

 creature of opportunity," 

 Kaylor says. "If they can catch a dog, 

 if they can catch a cat or raccoon, 

 they'll get it." 



Alligators are listed as a threat- 

 ened species, which grants them 

 protection from hunters in most states, 

 including North Carolina. They 

 average about 5 feet in length, but can 

 grow to 12 feet in this state. 



They have been sited 75 to 100 

 miles inland. 



Braswell says North Carolina 

 alligators have responded well to 

 federal protection, even as construc- 

 tion intrudes into their habitat and the 

 cold winters hold short their growing 

 season. 



The ultimate goal is for them to 

 flourish enough to be removed from 

 the list and hunted, as they have been 

 in Florida and Louisiana, Braswell 

 says. That would be a sure sign of a 

 healthy population, he says. 



Jeannie Faris 



COASTWATCH 19 



