My First Gator Encounter

My dad and the gator

My dad and the gator

Dulce Paz, Staff Writer

On Wednesday, I was having a normal day at John Prince Park with my dad. We were just driving around when we saw a commotion of people near the lake. They all seemed to be staring at something on the ground, but we didn’t know what. My dad went to examine what all the chaos was about; I stayed in the car. He walked back over and told me to come outside to check it out. I was confused as to what he was so excited about.

To my surprise, I walked over near the lake where everyone was and saw a 13 foot gator. At first, I was shocked and scared but this was quickly eliminated because the gator was calm and didn’t seem to be causing any disturbance. People were taking pictures and sitting on top of it. Personally, I didn’t take a picture with it but I did touch it. My dad was really enthusiastic because it was his first time seeing a gator up close. He sat on top of it and made me take a picture of him with it.

Someone had seen this large alligator in the lake and called the park ranger so it could be removed.

After about fifteen minutes, the people who caught the gator in the lake picked him up and put him in a large truck. They did not say where they were taking it. I will never forget how a normal day at the park turned into a cool story and an up close gator encounter.