Going Buck Wild!

We had a little excitement on Seastrand Lane on Wednesday. Fletcher and I came home from the playground to find a police officer and half the neighborhood in our front yard. My neighbor quickly flagged me down to explain that there was an alligator in my yard! It was in the 20 ft space between our fence the neighbor's fence, which has a lot of trees and bushes for it to take cover. I parked and got out, so I could talk to the cop and see what the plan was. She said that the wild life people had been called, but were on the Isle of Palms capturing another gator! Apparently, it is mating season, so all the gators in the area are "going buck wild" moving around looking for mates. As we waited and watched, two boys explained how they watched it walk down the road from the pond, which is maybe a quarter mile away. It went through yards and then stopped traffic crossing the street. It got stuck once it entered our yard because there is a privacy fence blocking the only way out. We watched it try to come back out and then head for cover again.

Once the wild life people arrived they captured it pretty quickly, but it did put up a fight. The best part though is once they measured it it was only 6.5 feet, so they had to put it back in the pond. They only remove them when they reach 8 feet!

Wild Kingdom

It has been said that there is more water in Charleston than land and with that water comes wildlife. We are fortunate enough to live in a neighborhood with a lot of sidewalks; so I take Beau, Reese and Fletcher for a walk everyday. It is hard to go a quarter of a mile without passing a pond and before lunch we ofter catch the turtles and alligators sunning themselves. I don't have any good pictures, of course, because our mere presence causes them to slide back in to the water.

However, I did manage to snap this one before she disappeared.

There are also a bunch of ducks and geese that live in the big pond by the playground, and they are not afraid of people in the least (they aren't even afraid of Beau!) They are frequently fed, so as soon as you stop they all swim toward you thinking it's meal time.

Fletcher and I occasionally bring them a snack.

Now the coolest thing we've seen recently is a loggerhead turtle. The SC Aquarium is downtown, and they have a turtle hospital because the loggerheads in this area are frequently hit by ship's propellers and injured. Those lucky enough to be rescued get a free stay at the hospital and then are reintroduced to the wild. DeBordieu, seen below, is a 320 pound female, estimated to be 50-60 years old, who was found on the beach almost 2 years. She laid her eggs in the sand, but did not return to the water because she had a large cut in her shell. After she was in the hospital for a few months, they realized she also had a broken finger (inside her flipper). She had to have surgery to remove all the bone pieces and then therapy to learn to reuse it. It took 22 months to get her ready to re-enter the ocean, but last Saturday she was released. Loggerheads are endangered, so DeBordieu is being released in hopes that she will be able mate this season.

There were a lot of people on the beach to witness the release, but Fletcher was more excited about playing in the water. Oh well, I can tell him about it one day!