Go Gators! Seriously, GO …

Re-submitted by Suanne Z. Thamm
Reporter – News Analyst
August 24, 2019

[Note:  This piece was originally published last weekend, but due to technical problems it disappeared.  At least that’s what we think.  Or could it have been sabotaged by gator rivals??]

Wendy Langley got quite a surprise recently when she stepped out onto her pool deck and found a young alligator taking a cooling dip on a hot day in the Langleys’ swimming pool.

A call for help quickly brought Sgt. Edwards from the Sheriff’s Department to the scene as well as a Florida Fish and Wildlife trapper who relocated the rambunctious reptile to a more natural habitat at a location further away … perhaps Gainesville?

Wendy Langley and NCSO Sgt Edwards with intruder

The gator had been hanging around the Langleys’ house for some time.  On at least one previous occasion Wendy had spotted him walking the grounds.  She said that two weeks earlier the gator had been cooling off under their car.  “Gil backed up the car for me to get in, as I was walking toward the passenger door I saw the gator and took off.”

We have not been able to determine whether the gator was drawn to the Langleys’ house as a result of Tourist Development Director Gil Langley’s efforts to attract visitors to Amelia Island.  Nor can we say whether the gator’s motivation was to undermine the Langleys’ fervent support for the Crimson Tide.