Florida Picture Gallery, Space Gator

The black lump in the center left of this picture is the head of a gator in Banana Creek . This WAS NOT taken with a telephoto lens. The place we parked to watch the launch is about 20-feet from the water and this bad boy is about 10 feet from the shore. He was not a big one, about 10 to 12 feet, but not a guy to mess with. They have cut the banks in such a way that the gator's can't climb on land at the viewing area so it's safe and there are security guards that drive by in golf carts about every half hour during a launch viewing to make sure the gator's and people don't mix. Florida has more than it's share of dangerous wildlife and it pays to give them the respect they deserve. Every now and then a gator gets a pet. Over the past three years I can remember at least two people killed by gator's and half a dozen injured.