By TERESA BRYANT
The Rotary Club of Port Isabel Rotarian of the Week, Teresa Bryant, welcomed the SPI Birding, Nature Center and Alligator Sanctuary to speak at the Aug. 11 meeting. Cristin Enholm, Executive Director, and Jake Reinbolt, “The Alligator Guy”, presented an educational program about the American Alligator.
American Alligators reside in freshwater ponds, lakes, swamps and marshes in the southeastern United States from North Carolina to Texas. While there are millions of alligators in the United States, there are approximately 25,000 alligators in the Rio Grande Valley and knowledge is key to understanding the alligator.
About four years ago, the SPI Birding Center partnered with Gator Country to become a sanctuary for “Nuisance” gators. Not all alligators are considered nuisance gators. Most alligators, if left alone, will move on and not interact with humans, however if humans feed an alligator, this behavior changes. It only takes one person to feed a wild alligator one time, and they will start to see people as a food source. When this occurs, the alligator becomes dangerous and will have to be removed from their natural habitat or put down. The alligators that end up in sanctuaries like the SPI Birding Center are the lucky ones. Reinbolt asks that we spread the awareness and inform others that feeding alligators creates problems for humans and alligators.
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