This is a part of southern culture and the 19 year old ringleader, pictured at the snout of the giant gator is a classic example of a southern good ole boy. Please make suggestions on how we priests in the south can create an inculturated southern rite for the Mass. I guess one suggestion would be alligator cinctures and buskens!
From this morning’s Hilton Head Island’s Island Packet Newspaper:
LISA WILSON
AND KATHERINE KOKAL
The Town of Hilton Head Island is investigating the circumstances surrounding a massive alligator’s removal from a lagoon at a Hilton Head Island mini-golf course this week, the town manager said Thursday.
The male alligator’s capture and euthanasia Tuesday provoked outrage, which escalated after photos and videos posted online showed the animal being manhandled after its capture.
On Thursday afternoon, Town Manager Steve Riley said the town is “deeply concerned about the egregious and unacceptable behavior” that took place during the alligator’s removal.
Hilton Head officials are also investigating Critter Management’s removal permit, which the town issued to the company.
WHAT HAPPENED WITH THE ALLIGATOR?
Legendary Golf contacted Critter Management, a local animal control company, on Tuesday evening to remove the gator over concerns for their customers’ safety, said Joey Maffo, the 19-year-old grandson of founder Joe Maffo.
The elder Maffo is known in the community for his presentations at the Coastal Discovery Museum, where visitors can hold baby alligators and other animals. In 2014, Maffo’s company lost its contract with South Carolina Department of Natural Resources for relocating an alligator the state agency’s rules said should have been euthanized.
Joey Maffo, who led the removal of the animal, said a crowd of around 100 people gathered as a Critter Management team captured the 12 ½-foot gator at Legendary Golf.
Although the alligator wasn’t acting aggressively, Joey Maffo said it could have been dangerous to mini-golfers who got too close to the murky lagoon where it was hidden.
Once the alligator’s limbs were secured, Joey Maffo said he invited the bystanders to come closer.
“That was actually on me,” he said. “As soon as I taped the gator, I thought it was a good opportunity to get people to understand how big and powerful it was.”
He said between 20 and 30 people took turns riding the alligator and taking photos and videos.
One Georgia woman posted a set of photos on Instagram and tagged Legendary Golf. In the photos, she’s riding the gator as Joey Maffo holds its taped snout.
“Well this happened today!!” she wrote in her caption. “One for the books!!”
The response from islanders, however, was outrage.
As videos and photos spread of the incident, hundreds took issue with the “sideshow” created by the alligator’s capture just off U.S. 278.
Maj. Bob Bromage, spokesperson for the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office, said two deputies responded to the scene once the animal was loaded onto a tow truck to be taken away around 5:45 p.m.
Deputies diverted traffic and attempted to disperse the crowds, he said.
On Wednesday, Bromage said deputies hadn’t responded to the issue. The calls were classified as “disturbances,” not “animal-related.”
MAKING THE ALLIGATOR A ‘FIASCO’
Large or aggressive alligators removed from a populated area usually are shot and killed, but people took issue with the cavalier treatment of the animal.
Those who rode the alligator — Joey Maffo characterized them as mostly excited tourists — were abusing the animal, the critics said.
“I didn’t know how it would look to all the people online,” Maffo said. “They’re just tourists. They want to see a gator up (close). … I was just trying to get everybody to understand how big and powerful they are.”
On Thursday, Joey and Joe Maffo apologized for the incident.
“It certainly wasn’t our intent to exploit this alligator,” Joe Maffo told reporters at Critter Management’s headquarters. “We had no intentions of making it look like a fiasco.”
SCDNR RESPONSE TO CAPTURE
SCDNR issued a written statement Wednesday night stating that the removal and euthanasia of the alligator were legal, but the agency did not condone the manner in which the animal was treated.
“The capture and handling of alligators should be left to experienced professionals, and allowing untrained people to interact with an alligator is irresponsible and puts those people at risk,” alligator biologist Morgan Hart said in the statement. “Agents contracted by SCDNR are not allowed to involve untrained members of the public in the capture or handling of alligators.”
SCDNR spokesman David Lucas later clarified that Critter Management was not contracted by the state agency in this case. Instead, he said, the business was working for the owners of the mini-golf course under a permit issued to the town of Hilton Head.
“The tag and permit used for the removal of this alligator was not explicitly issued by SCDNR for this animal, but for any alligator deemed a nuisance on various properties located within the Town of Hilton Head,” Hart’s statement reads.
The Town of Hilton Head has a Nuisance Alligator permit and tags to use at its discretion within the town limits, according to Hart.
“One of those tags was utilized to legally remove and euthanize this alligator,” Hart’s statement said.
Riley said the treatment of the alligator was outrageous.
“As a Town, we advocate for the protection of wildlife and the natural resources of the environment we live in,” he wrote. “It is unfortunate that people at the scene chose to make a spectacle of this situation and behave in a manner completely contrary to the core values and beliefs we, as Island residents, hold dear.”
AND KATHERINE KOKAL
The Town of Hilton Head Island is investigating the circumstances surrounding a massive alligator’s removal from a lagoon at a Hilton Head Island mini-golf course this week, the town manager said Thursday.
The male alligator’s capture and euthanasia Tuesday provoked outrage, which escalated after photos and videos posted online showed the animal being manhandled after its capture.
On Thursday afternoon, Town Manager Steve Riley said the town is “deeply concerned about the egregious and unacceptable behavior” that took place during the alligator’s removal.
Hilton Head officials are also investigating Critter Management’s removal permit, which the town issued to the company.
WHAT HAPPENED WITH THE ALLIGATOR?
Legendary Golf contacted Critter Management, a local animal control company, on Tuesday evening to remove the gator over concerns for their customers’ safety, said Joey Maffo, the 19-year-old grandson of founder Joe Maffo.
The elder Maffo is known in the community for his presentations at the Coastal Discovery Museum, where visitors can hold baby alligators and other animals. In 2014, Maffo’s company lost its contract with South Carolina Department of Natural Resources for relocating an alligator the state agency’s rules said should have been euthanized.
Joey Maffo, who led the removal of the animal, said a crowd of around 100 people gathered as a Critter Management team captured the 12 ½-foot gator at Legendary Golf.
Although the alligator wasn’t acting aggressively, Joey Maffo said it could have been dangerous to mini-golfers who got too close to the murky lagoon where it was hidden.
Once the alligator’s limbs were secured, Joey Maffo said he invited the bystanders to come closer.
“That was actually on me,” he said. “As soon as I taped the gator, I thought it was a good opportunity to get people to understand how big and powerful it was.”
He said between 20 and 30 people took turns riding the alligator and taking photos and videos.
One Georgia woman posted a set of photos on Instagram and tagged Legendary Golf. In the photos, she’s riding the gator as Joey Maffo holds its taped snout.
“Well this happened today!!” she wrote in her caption. “One for the books!!”
The response from islanders, however, was outrage.
As videos and photos spread of the incident, hundreds took issue with the “sideshow” created by the alligator’s capture just off U.S. 278.
Maj. Bob Bromage, spokesperson for the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office, said two deputies responded to the scene once the animal was loaded onto a tow truck to be taken away around 5:45 p.m.
Deputies diverted traffic and attempted to disperse the crowds, he said.
On Wednesday, Bromage said deputies hadn’t responded to the issue. The calls were classified as “disturbances,” not “animal-related.”
MAKING THE ALLIGATOR A ‘FIASCO’
Large or aggressive alligators removed from a populated area usually are shot and killed, but people took issue with the cavalier treatment of the animal.
Those who rode the alligator — Joey Maffo characterized them as mostly excited tourists — were abusing the animal, the critics said.
“I didn’t know how it would look to all the people online,” Maffo said. “They’re just tourists. They want to see a gator up (close). … I was just trying to get everybody to understand how big and powerful they are.”
On Thursday, Joey and Joe Maffo apologized for the incident.
“It certainly wasn’t our intent to exploit this alligator,” Joe Maffo told reporters at Critter Management’s headquarters. “We had no intentions of making it look like a fiasco.”
SCDNR RESPONSE TO CAPTURE
SCDNR issued a written statement Wednesday night stating that the removal and euthanasia of the alligator were legal, but the agency did not condone the manner in which the animal was treated.
“The capture and handling of alligators should be left to experienced professionals, and allowing untrained people to interact with an alligator is irresponsible and puts those people at risk,” alligator biologist Morgan Hart said in the statement. “Agents contracted by SCDNR are not allowed to involve untrained members of the public in the capture or handling of alligators.”
SCDNR spokesman David Lucas later clarified that Critter Management was not contracted by the state agency in this case. Instead, he said, the business was working for the owners of the mini-golf course under a permit issued to the town of Hilton Head.
“The tag and permit used for the removal of this alligator was not explicitly issued by SCDNR for this animal, but for any alligator deemed a nuisance on various properties located within the Town of Hilton Head,” Hart’s statement reads.
The Town of Hilton Head has a Nuisance Alligator permit and tags to use at its discretion within the town limits, according to Hart.
“One of those tags was utilized to legally remove and euthanize this alligator,” Hart’s statement said.
Riley said the treatment of the alligator was outrageous.
“As a Town, we advocate for the protection of wildlife and the natural resources of the environment we live in,” he wrote. “It is unfortunate that people at the scene chose to make a spectacle of this situation and behave in a manner completely contrary to the core values and beliefs we, as Island residents, hold dear.”
9 comments:
When I was a kid, we had an alligator in our swim hole which had been there for as long as anyone knew. He stayed in the tall grass at the exit end, in the shallow warm water, which was sand bottomed, ice cold, and clear at our swimming and diving from trees end. Sometime later, all the land surrounding was clear cut, and it all regressed to what it was before, a low spot in the ground and the stream became a muddy wandering track.
There was a famous such large gator in the Lagoon at Gulf Shores campgrounds, his skull is on display, which he would have kept, had he not taken to munching on camper's pets left out on chains overnight. All the gator huggers forget the things exist to live off whatever is at hand. And they forget they just saved countless younger gators from being killed by the big boy.
The gator had to be removed but the spectacle that followed wasn't necessary nor was euthanizing it as Savannah has a wildlife refuge about 30 miles away from HHI where he could have been brought. Or if this had been done more discreetly, the beast could have been euthanized without any fanfare or anyone knowing the difference.
BTW, Hilton Head has always been concerned about maintaining the plant and wild life of the island with strict building codes for residences and business where colors must be chosen that blend with the environment and no neon signs whatsoever, which applies to every business including famous fast food business. And trees are never clear cut. The Walmart parking lot there is like a jungle.
It is sad to hear the ‘gator was killed. But it was at command of the Wildlife Officer, so it would be interesting to know the reason.
Well, had it been a lot of our fine genteel southern folk, they would have dragged it to town behind a pick-up truck. Saw, one time, a large gator had been struck by a vehicle and it was at roadside. A bit later in passing spot again, a guy was loading it in the back of his truck to put it to some manner of use. Crowds have always gather to pose for photos at monster killings, and hangings and other executions as well. Locally, somebody poisoned a howling hound dog in a back yard across the street. I tried to warn the folk there were some very bad people behind him, and that I had heard them screaming in rage at the non-stop howling all day long and even a shotgun going off where I thought the poor thing dead at that moment, and the folks blew me off. There is no accounting for both the brutality and stupidity of people.
The whole thing just turns my stomach. I can’t begin to understand why the gator was not transported 30 miles down the road...
Morons
I can fully understand them deciding the local WMA needed no more large bull gators, and it clearly was a menace at that location. It is known as culling, if that was the call.
I watched the interview on WJCL of Joey Maffo, the 19 year-old man who subdued the gator, and his grandfather, Joe Maffo. As a Southerner, they certainly didn't sound Southern to me: he (Joey) referred to "you guys" in the interview, and the grandfather's (northern) accent was even more pronounced. But, that's not at all surprising, since I think you'd be hard-pressed to find many people in and around HHI who are actually Southern. Hence, neither the people/culture of HHI, nor the people who subdued (and rode/sat on?) the gator, were likely to have been Southern. They were almost certainly..........Yankees! So, perhaps the actual issue we're dealing with here isn't regional "culture," but the question of what appeals to people at various levels within a regional culture (in this case, people who probably weren't Southern at all). I can say, with absolute certainty, that no one in my thoroughly Southern family, would have been "riding" this alligator, had they been given the opportunity.
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