Making Up For Lost Time?

Well, it seems it is all about the alligators now. They have risen to the occasion and wiped the Burmese python off the charts...

Do you know how many fatal alligator attacks have been recorded in Florida? No? I'll tell you.

There have been seventeen fatal attacks reported since 1948 — oh, plus the three women killed by alligators THIS PAST WEEK.

1. On Sunday afternoon, friends found their companion inside the mouth of an alligator during a snorkeling trip near Ocala National Forest.

2. Also on Sunday, a body was found in a canal in Pinellas County, about 120 miles southwest of Ocala. The upper body had bite marks consistent with those made by an alligator.

3. A woman jogging near a canal in the South Florida city of Sunrise, died when an alligator dragged her into the canal, severed both of her arms and bit her on the legs and back according to the medical examiner who performed the autopsy.

Three! In one week! All Women! Gators Gone Mad! What Does It Mean?

If you are vacationing in Florida, please remember the words of the spokesman for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, a gentleman aptly named Mr. Puz :

Any freshwater body in Florida can be home to alligators.

But if you are relocating to Florida, heed the inspirational words of Frank Mazzotti, a wildlife ecologist at the University of Florida:

If someone doesn't want to face the risk of an alligator attack, they should live in a state with no alligators.