- One Alligator tried to attack a Fort Myers resident in their car on Wednesday night (October 9th)
- Animal sanctuary owner Christopher Gillette warned his followers about staying out of floodwaters
- The floodwaters from Hurricane Milton are “going to be like an open highway” for alligators once the storm passes
As if Floridians didn’t have enough to panic about right now, with Hurricane Milton making groundfall and destroying everything in its path over the last 24 hours, there could also be another deadly threat left over in the aftermath of the storm.
Alligators.
After footage emerged of a Fort Myers resident narrowly avoiding the teeth of a ‘gator as he attempted to leave his car on Wednesday night (October 9th), a wildlife conservationist warned local residents to avoid floodwaters as best they could, with the storms moving alligators and dispersing them into more highly populated areas.
Christopher Gillette, who operates an animal sanctuary in northern Florida, sent a stark warning to his Instagram followers as alligators “are going to be on the move in the floodwaters” following the storm.
In the caption of the video, Gillette sends the warning, “Gator safety during the hurricane!! Watch for snakes and gators in the floodwaters, stay safe and stay out of the water! The usual Gator safety talk, don’t feed them, keep kids and pets away from the water, don’t swim or wade in the water! The risk posed by wildlife in the flood waters is actually relatively low, you should really stay out because it’ll be full of human sewage!!!”
In the video itself, crouched by a huge alligator (which, to be honest, is looking far too bitey for our liking) Gillette explains that alligators can, “hunker down and hold their breath for six hours at a time,” but after the storm the floodwaters are “going to be like an open highway for them,”.
Gillette also warned about pet safety, saying that while alligators and venomous snakes, who could also have been displaced, do not want anything to do with humans, “they do like small animals like your pets,”.
In North Fort Myers, one resident already had a very narrow escape, when a ‘gator leapt out of floodwaters surrounding the man’s car,almost taking a chunk out of him, before settling for his tires instead.
The storm is believed to be heading away from Florida later today (Thursday) but the devastation Milton and Helene before it have left in their wakes is going to be felt by local communities in Florida for years to come.
