Officials in Florida may have just taken care of a man-killing beast after a dead body was found in the water.
According to the Tampa Bay Times, deputies from the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office responded to a call on Friday afternoon about a dead body in the water. Officials arrived and removed the body, and an investigation into the person’s death is ongoing.
However, the police might already have dealt with the perpetrator of this tragedy, as a 13-foot, 8 1/2-inch-long male alligator was found in the water near the dead body. It was removed and “humanely killed.”
According to local outlet Bay News 9, residents said that they had seen the massive gator and heard the shot that killed the beast.
“A lot of my neighbors were out here and they’re the ones that told me about the gator,” said resident Jennifer Dean. “While we were standing here we heard a shot, I assume they killed the gator.”
Another resident, JaMarcus Bullard, said he saw the alligator with the body in his mouth, and he reported the finding to local officials.
“I could tell there was a body in his mouth, so I started recording,” Bullard said. “I came down to the fire department and reported it to them.” Bullard then said that the crews there called 911 to report the incident.
While the investigation has not concluded yet, it seems a pretty safe bet that this unfortunate person met their end at the hands of this massive alligator. After all, this is a huge beast, and someone claimed to have seen it carrying the body.
Just by looking at the picture, you can tell that this gator was abnormally large, and was more than capable of killing a person. It could have been a repeat mankiller.
Have you ever seen an alligator in the wild?
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This is a reminder of just how dangerous nature still is, despite all of over modern advances that have tamed it.
When the first settlers arrived in the New World, they found an untamed land filled with never-ending wildernesses and wild beasts, and almost none of the human advances that had tamed nature in Europe at the time.
Now, nearly 500 years after the discovery of the New World, we like to think that the American wilderness has been tamed. For the most part, that is true, but America is still a vast nation with a lot of natural areas that have not been tamed.
For instance, there are areas in Florida and the Southeast that are still swamplands where alligators and crocodiles roam free and have the ability to harm human beings as happened in Pinellas County.
This story should also remind us of our God-given obligation to be good stewards of nature.
Remember, one of the first things God said to Adam in the Garden of Eden was “Fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth.” (Genesis 1:28)
Part of being a good steward of nature is keeping ourselves, our families, and other animals safe from predators that threaten their existence.
This alligator in Florida was clearly a threat, and the state officials did the right thing in putting it down, as it could have gone on to harm even more people if it was not stopped.
