6/11/2007 0:00:00
Beautiful Miami Springs became the home of the Gators…at least for a few hours on Monday.
Miami Springs police and local celebrity trapper Todd Hardwick were at the scene along Ludlam avenue at the intersection of Ibis. (See at right.) That’s where Mr. Hardwick pulled a reported 5 foot gator that weighed 60 pounds and a 9 foot gator at about 200 pounds from the adjacent canal. (Read More and View Videos.)
Editorial Opinion
Why did they have to remove the gators? I mean c’mon. This is South Florida. Wouldn’t it be nice to be walking down the bike path or cycling and seeing these beautiful creatures?
As the parent of 2 young children, I understand that we don’t want a child cycling down the path to run into one of these creatures. I get it. None of us want to see the horror headlines in the news about the child that was killed by the Gator. Again, I get it.
Maybe I’ve been mystified all my life hoping to see a gator in the Miami canal, Ludlam canal, or any body of water near Miami Springs. I know I can drive down 15 minutes to the Everglades and see tons of gators. I know I can walk through Shark Valley and see them just a few feet away in all sorts of sizes. Been there…done that.
Again, I am mystified because growing up as a young boy in Hialeah, my mom used to tell me stories about going to Springs High. She used to tell me how they had picnic tables by Royal Poiniciana and how there would sometimes be gators along the river bank. How cool is that?
I never saw one gator during my 4 years at Miami Springs Senior High. I wish I had.
Now that I am in my thirties with a couple of kids of my own, I can’t help but wonder what it would be like to coexist with the gators. It seems like they knew how to do it back in the sixties and seventies. Now, during the age of the Internet, we can’t figure out how to live with a couple of gators.
Darn, and I was hoping the gators would help control the ever growing population of non-native Iguanas. There goes that idea…
www.local10.com/news/13481547/detail.html
