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Opinion: Alligators make for dangerous neighbors

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Alligators are in a way the mountain lions of Florida and Georgia. Developers build deeper into their territory; then humans are amazed to find there are dangerous wild animals in their picturesque midst and call for eradicating them.

In the terribly sad case of an 83-year-old woman who was house-sitting for her daughter outside of Savannah, Ga., the family is suing on the grounds that the homeowners’ association should have done more to safeguard visitors to the residential area. The elderly woman was killed by an 8-foot alligator that lived in one of the many neighboring lagoons, which is their natural habitat. The Georgia Supreme Court has agreed to consider the case.

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But it seems more like the endangerment to humans came from moving so close to potentially ferocious animals, and the lack of safety for the victim in this case was caused by her relatives having her stay in a place where she would be defenseless against attack, or perhaps not warning her to stay inside with the doors closed.

Could the homeowners association have put up more signs or some fencing to keep alligators off residential property? Possibly. But unless the homeowners were led astray by the developers in the first place, sold on the idea that there were no natural threats in the area, it seems that they made their own, ultimately tragic decision to settle in a dangerous place.

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--Karin Klein

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