In 1973 my wife and I stopped by the Okefenokee Swamp
in Georgia on our way to vacation in Florida. As I pulled into the
parking lot I was surprised to see alligators sunning themselves right
where we were supposed to park. “Oh, well,” if thought to myself. “If
it wasn’t safe they wouldn’t do it like this.” We got out of the car
and navigated around several large reptiles to get to the ticket
office. Later, as we were walking on a small causeway to a
reconstructed swamp dwelling, one of the larger ‘gators was parked in
the way. We walked up and debated whether to pass it. We could see its
eyes following us as we tried to decide whether to pass on the left or
the right. Eventually we got by and visited the house, and then went by
it again on the way back.
Many years later, in 1994, we took
our kids there on the way to Florida. We had told them about the
roaming ‘gators and they were excited to see them. But when we got
there, the water’s edge by the parking lot was blocked by a strong
metal fence. Fences blocked every access a ‘gator might have to the
public areas where humans walked. We wondered what caused the change in
the 21 years since we’d been there.
Our first thought was government regulation. But maybe it was something like this.