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| -Short Attention Span Theater- |
| Alligator Found in Tennessee Lake |
| 2007-03-14 |
| KNOXVILLE, Tenn. - The alligator clearly wasn't from around here. Tennessee wildlife officers discovered a 5-foot alligator Sunday in Watts Bar Lake near Spring City, about 60 miles south of Knoxville. The Lizard People are Taking Over!! "It was on a log sunning itself like a turtle," said Dan Hicks, spokesman for the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency. Prior to the encounter, Watts Bar's gator population by all accounts was zero. Action by TWRA officer Burton Capps has restored that census. "He was able to get close enough to it and euthanize it," Hicks said. "Gonna make a fine handbag and matching shoes for the Wife." Alligators are not indigenous to Tennessee, and the state's climate is too cold to support a reproducing population. So when they're sighted, it's almost invariably because humans brought them here. It's Global Warming. It's Bush's fault. All he had to do was take the Magic Pen and sign the Majic Document! "Somebody probably bought this one as a pet down in Florida and kept it until it got too large and uncontrollable," Hicks said. "That's when they just let it go." "Good-bye Ole' Pal. Mom says I can't keep you any more. Besides, you ate her cat and you won't stop chasing Uncle Ralph. Did keep the burgurglers away though." Hicks said the Watts Bar alligator will be stuffed by a taxidermist and used as an educational display. "When somebody says alligators aren't found in Tennessee, we can point to it and say, 'This one was,'" Hicks said. |
| Posted by:Deacon Blues |
| #3 Buy? You're supposed to BUY gators? Heck, we used to just go down by the bayou and ketch one. Same with loggerhead turtles, moccasins, scorpions, tarantulas, and on a good day, a big-mouth bass. Tennessee chilluns don't have NO fun... Seriously, one of the things I remember from my childhood was sitting snake/gator watch at the ole swimmin' hole at the creek. You'd usually see one or two of each during a three-hour swim. |
| Posted by: Old Patriot 2007-03-14 18:00 |
| #2 Pet owners often dump their animals and reptiles. Careful what you buy. |
| Posted by: Sneaze 2007-03-14 06:10 |
| #1 Maybe it's a Katrina refugee. |
| Posted by: Penguin 2007-03-14 02:20 |