Is that an alligator at my beach and a snake in my yard? Hurricane Ian may be to blame

Hurricane Ian displaced thousands of people in Florida. It also displaced reptiles.

Floodwaters pushed alligators and snakes from their usual homes to places they are usually not seen. That’s led to a rise in human-reptile encounters, authorities say.

One of those encounters was a seven foot, nine inch alligator spotted on an Ana Maria Island beach days after the late September hurricane. The gator was trapped and later euthanized.

Another unusual reptile sighting in Manatee County happened on Oct. 15.

Jack Kern, 67, from Ellenton told the Bradenton Herald that his 95-year-old mother-in-law was less than a foot from rolling over a 24-inch rattlesnake with her walker. He believes the snake was flushed out by the storm from a pond or swamp near her home in Covered Bridge Estates where he and his wife also live.

Jack’s wife, Connie Kern, 69, was on her way to the nail salon with her mother when she heard the rattle of the snake, which was unfamiliar to her, and assumed it was coming from a neighbor doing some repairs.

To her surprise, after getting her mother into the passenger seat, Connie Kern said the rattling noise began to rattle her. When she looked down, she saw a snake in the shrub.

“The rattling kept getting louder and louder and it scared her to death,” Jack said. “It could have easily struck her from where she was.”

Connie then went in the opposite direction of the snake, got in her car and called her husband for help.

Jack called the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and was told he could pay to have the snake removed by a trapper — or if he felt brave enough, he could capture and kill the snake on his own.

At the same time, a pool guy who also heard the snake rattling came from a neighbor’s house and told him if he had a shovel then the two of them could catch the snake using his pool net.

The snake was captured, killed, and placed in a five-gallon bucket with a top. Jack said the pool guy took the snake with him and said he planned to skin it and eat it, saving the rattle.

To know more

The Florida Fish and Wildlife agency provides information on storms and wildlife, as well as recommendations on how to interact with alligators at myfwc.com

The post Is that an alligator at my beach and a snake in my yard? Hurricane Ian may be to blame appeared first on MIAMI DAILY CHRONICLE.

from MIAMI DAILY CHRONICLE https://ift.tt/qdPzMIx
via IFTTT