Press: Gators Invade Gardens

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: SKY NEWS (London, UK) 20 July 02 Gators Invade Gardens : Residents in South Florida are having a few problems with their neighbours. : They've made a record number of calls to complain about alligators swamping their housing developments. : Conservationists say developers are to blame for building in the areas where the creatures traditionally live. : More than 1,000 new homes a week are being built under South Florida's housing boom, much of it on the edge of the Everglades. : Trappers : As the urban sprawl spreads into the swamp, the gators are being squeezed out and heading to the nearest available habitat - people's gardens. : The unwelcome visitors have seen alligator trappers rushed off their feet. : Thirty-five years ago, alligators were an endangered species. Now that's all changed - there are more than a million of them in the Everglades. : Captured : While just three people were killed by alligators last year, the number of complaints rocketed to a record 17,000. : Two possible fates await captured gators - Florida law dictates that the bigger ones have to be killed. : The others are released into the swamp. But it's only a matter of time before they return - and the alligator trapper has to make another house call. : :

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