[redwitch]

Well, here's your pic of "our" buffalo. Took it right after I heard they were going to be taken away. Still breaks my heart cause I was one of those who actually sat and watched them for hours -- especially when I couldn't sleep.

Actually, the three biggest worries you have for wildlife that will harm a very small dog are snakes (and that's a very rare occurrence) and foxes and coyotes (much more common occurrences). The gators here are pretty well fed, so really aren't a danger except during mating season -- when they frisky, watch out! Snakes really do prefer to stay away from humans when possible.

I have a friend who lives by one of the ponds (not really a reserve but close). She's out every evening feeding the ducks. She's seen sand cranes, egrets, lots and lots of ducks and other birds. She's heard the frogs and heard the frogs and then she's heard the frogs some more. She's seen a couple of black racer snakes and one garter (both are harmless). There was a gator that lived in her pond for a short while but, when the water got higher, it moved out of her pond through the pipes and back to wherever it originally lived (it was presumed, anyway). Her cats come out with her to feed the ducks. They frequently go right to the edge of the water -- one even fell in once. The wet cat incident was the worse thing that has happened, unless you count the ducks chasing the cats away from their nightly snack as hazardous.