Editor's Notebook

 

This week I have been following stories out of Manhattan, Kansas, reporting on two alligators stolen from a pet store located in that community.

I don’t know why anyone would want to steal an alligator but people are doing many things these days that I don’t understand.

One of the two missing alligators was spotted last Wednesday afternoon by a man walking on Linear Trail near Wildcat Creek, a creek located a few blocks west of where I lived while attending Kansas State University. A co-worker at The Express, Clinton Christian lived in the Wildcat Creek Apartments while attending Kansas State.

As a precaution, portions of Linear Trail were closed as teams of animal control officers tried to capture the five-foot long female alligator. Reportedly, there was plenty of alligator food in the creek area and the animal appeared to be content and not straying out of the area.

When these entries were made in this notebook, the second alligator, a male, had not been found and authorities had barricaded the trail between South Manhattan Avenue and Pecan Circle.

Manhattan’s Reptile World store got the two alligators as rescues. One came from a Kansas City pool located at a private residence and the other from the bathtub of a Manhattan home.

I don’t understand why anyone would want to keep a live alligator in their pool or bath tub.

Monday reports said the five-foot female alligator had been caught in a trap, fell into Wildcat Creek on Saturday and drowned.

As Rita and I have degrees from Kansas State and are familiar with the Wildcat Creek area, we have paid close attention to the story.

When I first saw the story posted on the internet. I thought it was probably a hoax. I previously have discounted stories people have told me about seeing alligators and water moccasins in this area. I believe the snakes can live in Southern Kansas, but alligators can’t. Until now I have seen neither this far north and I don’t expect either can survive our climate extremes.

I have viewed with skepticism the official denials of the presence of mountain lions in these parts because I am certain I have seen the big cats roaming in this area and have heard their screams.

It is always possible that somebody could release snakes and alligators here or they might hitch a ride into this area and survive for a few months. A few years ago a python was apparently released in the Red Cloud area.

I wouldn’t have thought we would need to ever watch out for African Lions in Nuckolls County, but I have published stories and pictures about the two African lions captured in Nuckolls County.

On a recent afternoon, Rita and I were tired of being confined in town and we went to the Republican River to see what we could see. Perhaps we had been confined in town for too long as my imagination ran wild.

And what do you suppose I saw? Let me tell you!

I spotted him first. Knowing skeptics would never believe my story, I reached for my camera with a telephoto lens so I would have photographic evidence to document what I saw while maintaining proper social distancing and avoiding the poison ivy growing between me and the river,

Yes, you guessed it, I saw a giant alligator with his mouth open resting on a sand bar. Rita looked over my shoulder at what I called an alligator and laughed at my overactive imagination. She said my Republican River alligator was of the cottonwood variety and wouldn’t be eating any fish or people. She said it wasn’t nearly as frightening as the alligator log a prankster painted at the west edge of Lincoln Park. While the cottonwood alligator may not be a threat to living things, in the company of his woody friends, he could threaten a downstream bridge should the logs jam around a bridge pier.

As a KSU college student, I enjoyed wading and splashing in a creek area known as Pillsbury Crossing and in the Kaw River at a place we college students called Kershaw beach. Until both of the missing alligators are found, I advise current KSU students to reconsider their plans to play in either the creek or the river.

Though some people don’t share my fear of alligators, I don’t want to unexpectedly meet up with one. While visiting Florida, I joined other tourists on a boat cruise up a Florida river. We passed by two boys who appeared to be having fun playing in the river. For short time, I wished I had grown up in their neighborhood.

Then around a river bend or two the tour guide stopped the boat and told us he regularly saw an alligator in that area. He made noise, threw bait into the water and waited. It wasn’t long until the bait was snapped up by what appeared to be an alligator. Apparently the tour guide had trained the alligator to wait in that area for food and he was keeping the alligator adequately fed for I didn’t hear of any youngsters being eaten that year in Florida.

 

Reader Comments(0)

 
 

Our Family of Publications Includes:

Superior Express
Nuckolls County Locomotive Gazette
Jewell County Record

Powered by ROAR Online Publication Software from Lions Light Corporation
© Copyright 2024