Frenzied and Dog-Eating Alligators!

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CNN - A voice heard on an amazing video of 300 feeding alligators says it all.

"I ain't never seen so many gators in my life."

Ray Cason's biggest catch earlier this month, when he went fishing at Stephen C. Foster State Park in the Okefenokee Swamp in southeast Georgia, was two videos that have made a splash on Facebook and YouTube. As of Tuesday night they had garnered nearly 100,000 page views, according to YouTube.

One of the videos looks like something out of an "Animal Planet" special. Alligator heads bob on the surface while others, in the background, gyrate and thrash in the water as they snap at mudfish, also known as bowfin.

The alligators are jammed in a canal perhaps 30 feet wide.

"With a high population of mudfish you can almost smell them," said Art Webster, supervisory refuge manager at the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge.

"I've never seen footage like that before," said state wildlife biologist Greg Nelms who, along with other wildlife officials, told CNN this rare "cooperative feeding" happens once every three or four years.

Stephen C. Foster park manager Travis Griffin believes it last happened in 2007.

Griffin, who was not at the park the weekend of the event, said rangers saw alligators congregating about 10 p.m. July 9 near the quarter-mile-long canal that leads from the Foster boat area into open water near Billy's Lake.

No one had any idea of the scene that would greet Cason, 39, of Homerville, Georgia, on the morning of July 10.

"When I put the boat in you had the awfulest ruckus," Cason said. Many alligators were in the boat basin.

He headed out in the early morning light with another boat close behind. Moments later, they realized they had about 150 alligators in front of them and 150 behind.

Cason said the teeming alligators were hunting together. Many formed a reptile wall beyond the canal.

"They would converge together," Cason said. "I saw gators pushing them [the fish] back [into the canal]. I saw them push them to the bank and eat them."

Cason returned to the park the next morning, July 11, and shot more video. He said about 175 gators were visible.

The alligators were gone by 8 a.m., according to Griffin. Although he and other wildlife officials said the waters are safe for boaters, the state park waited to be sure that wild morning.

"I wouldn't rent my boats out until they were gone," he said.

Stephen C. Foster State Park covers 80 acres. It is a small portion of the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge's 401,000-plus acres. Webster estimates the refuge is home to about 11,000 alligators.

He said he was concerned that Cason and the other boater may have been pushing the gators along and might have hurt them. "This was potentially not a safe thing to do."

But Cason said he waited several minutes for most of the alligators to clear before he proceeded. An alligator bumped the boat behind him but wasn't injured, Cason said.

The videos were posted by the Clinch County News. Cason said he hopes to show additional footage to school groups.

"By no means is the swamp dangerous," he said. "It's probably something I never will see again."

Cason had additional luck that Saturday, catching his limit of jackfish and warmouth perch.

Life has almost returned to normal at Stephen C. Foster State Park, which is near the town of Fargo. Alligator sightings are at normal levels, it's hot and the park's beauty awaits visitors.

Griffin isn't sure whether Cason's encounter will bring more campers and boaters, but it sure has raised interest in the behavior of alligators.

"You can never predict what they are going to do," Webster said.

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Dog-Eating Alligator in Florida Wanted 'Dead or Alive'

Florida officials have put out the word that an urban alligator who has been eating dogs and other pets and terrorizing a neighborhood is now wanted, dead or alive.

Gary Morse of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission told AFP the state agency has taken the unusual step of authorizing an alligator hunter to shoot and kill the three-meter (10-foot) long animal.

But finding this alligator, on the loose for two years in the St. Petersburg area and stalking pets around the city's canals, may not be easy, Morse said.

"Alligators regularly use the drainage system to travel. When you are trying to target a specific gator is really difficult to catch it," Morse said.

Tensions mounted on Monday night, when residents reported that the alligator ate a mixed breed dog who was running free near the canal. Then, the alligator was reportedly glimpsed the next morning near Tony's Meat Market.

But when Charles Carpenter, the alligator hunter, arrived on the scene, the culprit was nowhere to be seen.

Morse said some people have been reportedly feeding the renegade gator, making his capture even more complicated, because he is eluding bait traps.

"He's not hungry and he's got a lot of places to hide."

Carpenter told the St. Petersburg Times he plans to use a hunting rifle or semi-automatic pistol to take down his prey.

"He's good at not getting caught," Carpenter said.

Frenzied and Dog-Eating Alligators!

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