There is a pond near our post office. I have seen gators and people fishing. The Villages should ban fishing!

They have banned fishing on golf courses and on certain ponds that are visible from "water view" homes.

The Villages should allow and encourage fishing.

Chubbs Peterson Society

Nobody deserves to be attacked by an alligator, for any reason, no matter how infrequent that happens.
We have the ability to Mitigate = reduce the risk.

Allow trappers to capture alligators in ponds adjacent to homes without any regulatory hoops to jump through. No fee for a permit. Allowed during daylight, and any time at the request of PD.
Take one or take all. The more, the better.
It's safer for humans. Safer for children. Safer for visitors and pets.

If another one moves in, get rid of that one too. Eventually there will be a lot fewer near residents.
There are millions of them, and removing a few thousand living near people will not have any impact on them.

If only that one had been removed... a man would not be in the hospital. He and his family would not have to deal with the life changing amputation, the pain and suffering, and a huge financial problem that alligator caused.

Remember, and this is time tested for accuracy.....you cannot legislate what is common sense!

Better to remove people who are worried about alligators. If you don't like snow, don't move to New Hampshire. Bothered by earthquakes? Stay out of California. Terrified by the movie Twister? No Kansas for you. Feel Florida is unsafe with all the alligators? There are a lot of states who will be glad to have you.

Gators will be gators.

Sorry for what happened to this guy, but he should have known the risks. He's probably done it a hundred times w/o a problem. But this one time...gator, fish (assumedly) and hand all intersected. But you can't blame the critter for being what it is. We can coexist with them just fine if we think a little bit.

When will people get upset over a problem that can mitigated? Will it take a child to get killed?

Common sense gun laws would be a good start. Any idea how many children have been killed because of the lack of ?

In the 1970s, Florida protected alligators, as an endangered species. I submit, they are no longer endangered in Florida, on the contrary, they have flourished & are in need of being trimmed back from populated areas, like The Villages. Maker is correct. They should be removed from The Villages ponds, they can stay in the swamps, but the retention ponds that folks fish in should be open to alligator hunters.

Over 6,000 pedestrians are killed each year. Removing vehicles from roadways would prevent those 6,000 deaths of which some were children.

An average of 28 people are killed by lightning each year. Enforcing a 100% curfew during a lightning storm could prevent those 28 deaths of which some were children

If we are going to demand 100% safety we are going to be forced to make some difficult choices. On the other hand, if we are willing to make tradeoffs, work to improve safety, and demand some level of personal responsibility then we can have our cake and usually get to eat some of it too.

And then there's the water moccasins, ponds are where both live and anyone who. allows a child to be near a body of water in Florida should be shipped north.

Or just put up no fishing signs, problem solved.

Remember several years ago when the tragedy occurred at The Floridian Disney. Tragic loss of a child. That said, Disney posted conspicuously throughout that area before....and fenced off area since. They have already employed wildlife experts, daily, who guide and relocate gators to other parts of their property. It’s not a cure all. It’s not cheap either. In the case of TV, how many more fees and administrative costs to you want to add on top of? Again, common sense...and as it relates to parents/grandparents of small children....cannot be legislated!

If you remove a few thousand gators living near people, another few thousand will move into the area. Even if you put a fence around every pond, the gators can climb fences.

You can no more control the location of gators than you can control the location of geckos.

Also - gators play a big role in the balance of nature. They are a top predator, controlling the population of fish, turtles, ducks, and more.

Do you also want to get rid of the panthers, bears, and coyotes?

What a messed up state we would have.

I’m talking common sense laws not a total ban. Besides, guns meant to kill, cars are meant to be driven. And yes, accidents do happen, the deaths are not on purpose.