Doesn't work like that. At the point where it starts to target cattle or other livestock it becomes a permanent risk. It would never go back to just eating fish and what not because it's found something else it prefers and it's learned where to go to get it. I've seen gators cross a lake to go after a dog because that's become it's preferred food source. Even if you relocated it, it would just travel until it finds other cattle and the cycle would start all over again. Just like if a gator eats a child you have to kill it because it will start targeting children over other food.
put it in the keys where there are no cattle and it will adapt; probably start targeting deer and large birds, like a normal gator.
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· 6 years ago
Why go after smaller, faster prey when it could go after bigger, slower prey? If it doesn't have cows, it'll likely resort to people. That's what happens when crocodillians get really big. They get too big to hunt their normal prey so they go after bigger or easier prey like Gustave, for example.
The keys/everglades are so dense there aren't many people or cows. It would either change it's habits or die. At least you'd give it a chance though. A gator that big is 60+ years old.
Or... put his old ass in a zoo.
You're making the assumption it would stay wherever you put it, it won't. Gator's travel moving from place to place to hunt for food. Give two or three weeks and it'd be right back in an area it could hunt cattle or other large mammals like humans. It will always revert back to what it finds easiest. So as much as you don't like it you had two options kill it or let it continue killing livestock or worse. Putting it in a zoo isn't really an option, there is no real need for gators, no zoo would take a cattle killer, and the cost is prohibitive for catching, transporting, and then keeping a gator of that size. So unless someone else was willing to fork up $4k-$6k a month there was no way this was going to end any other way.
It's really not forced perspective. First the kid is young like 5 or 6 yrs old young, but forget about that. Instead look at the head to chain to bucket size. That model of John Deer has a bucket that 3ft deep, meaning the gator's head is over 2ft long and over a foot wide. Also, 15ft while uncommon is not actually all that rare. Now if they had said over 20ft long then yes I'd agree with forced perspective. Remember Alligators like Crocodiles will continue to grow most of their lives as long as they have food. Factor in the average life span of 30-50 years not counting outliers and that makes some rather large lizards. Also it should be noted that 30-50 yrs really is the best educated guess but it remains likely possible that given the best of conditions they could live much much longer.
Or... put his old ass in a zoo.