By Steve Gillespie / assistant editor
Jack Huntley, operations manager of the Okatibbee Lake project, advises people not to swim at night and not to feed alligators at the lake.
Huntley, who has worked with the Corps of Engineers for 17 years and who has served as manager at the lake for 12 years, spoke Tuesday to the Meridian Civitan Club.
“Normally, they (alligators) are on the north end of the lake, but because the water is low, they may be coming into other areas,” Huntley said.
Although Huntley did not attend the meeting specifically to talk about alligators, many questions were raised about them. Concern over alligators at the lake has risen this year, partly because of three fatal alligator attacks reported in Florida during May.
Huntley said that previously, when alligators were thought to be a problem at Okatibbee Lake, officers with the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks would capture the gators and relocate them. Now that alligator populations have grown, Huntley said agents from the department kill problem alligators.
“They’ve killed one and are looking to take out three or four more,” Huntley said.
Huntley also said Tuesday that he did not know the estimated number of alligators in Okatibbee Lake, but he said the local office of the Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks office would have that number.
A call to that office for the information was referred to Ricky Flynt, the state agency’s alligator and furbearer program leader. Flynt did not return a phone call Tuesday.
Huntley said Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks officials do annual alligator population counts, but he isn’t sure if this year’s count has been performed at Okatibbee.
Alligators were originally put in at Okatibbee Lake by the state to help re-establish the alligator population in the 1970s. It was also thought the alligators would help control the beaver population at the lake.
Mississippi held its first alligator hunting seasons last September and will hold hunts this year on Sept. 8-10 and Sept. 15-17. The hunts do not include Okatibbee Lake.
The “Public Water Alligator Hunting Season” is only open to the public waters of the Pearl River Valley Water Supply District in Rankin, Madison and Scott counties and only within the area north of Mississippi Highway 43 and south of the Coal Bluff Park ramp.
The “Private Lands Alligator Hunting Season” will be open in Hinds, Madison and Rankin counties.
Fifty people who apply for alligator hunting permits will be randomly selected by computer. Each person given a permit will be allowed to kill one alligator at least 4 feet long.
The largest alligator harvested in last year’s hunt was 11 feet, 2 inches long and weighed 382 pounds. The average alligator harvested was 8 feet, 4 inches long and weighed 140 pounds, according to a press release issued by Flynt for the fall and winter of 2005.
A press release issued by Flynt for the spring and summer of 2005 warned against feeding alligators, which is illegal in Mississippi. According to the article, the estimated statewide alligator population in 2000 was between 32,000 and 38,000.
The press release also offered the following “Do’s” and “Don’ts” for living around alligators:
• Do — enjoy and respect alligators from a safe distance
• Do — supervise small children and pets near water
• Do — report anyone who feeds or harasses alligators
• Do — educate others about the danger of feeding alligators
• Do — store caught fish in a live-well or cooler rather than a stringer over the side of the boat
• Do — report nuisance alligators to your local Mississippi Department of Wildlife Fisheries and Parks district or central office
• Don’t — try to catch or harass an alligator. It may provoke aggression and it is illegal
• Don’t — swim at night
• Don’t — throw fish or food scraps near the water or leave them on shore
• Don’t — feed fish or animals such as ducks and geese. The activity can attract alligators to the area
• Don’t — approach an alligator nest or hatching alligators. Adult females may protect their young for up to two years after birth.
