Why did the alligator cross the road?
The answer is, he didn’t. But he tried.
The Morehouse Parish Sheriff’s Office has received an unusually high number of complaints of vehicles striking alligators on U.S. 165 between Bastrop and Sterlington.
“We’ve had five or six reports in the last month,” said Major Keith Robertson. “In the past, I can remember getting about one report per year.”
The most recent alligator-vehicle collision happened Monday night. The results are not pretty.
“They’re pretty tough animals,” said Robertson. “Some people’s vehicles have been getting torn up.”
When a large alligator carcass is in the road, Robertson said the MPSO usually contacts the state highway department to remove it.
Fortunately, no motorists have been hurt in collisions with these primal beasts of the swamp. But why the sudden rise in gator roadkill?
John Hanks, biologist with the Louisiana Department of Wildlife & Fisheries, said these incidents are probably not due to increased alligator population.
“It’s probably because of the high water,” said Hanks. “Flood waters give them more corridors to travel by. This is also the time of Spring dispersal, when young alligators are more active.”
Hanks said although the mating season varies among individual alligators, the normal time for breeding is coming up soon and this may help explain the restless wanderings of gators across the highway.
Capt. Alan Bankston with LDWF agreed that high waters in the area between Bastrop and Sterlington are probably to blame.
“That’s a very swampy area,” said Bankston. “The high water pushes them out where they normally wouldn’t be.”
The LDWF manages the American alligator (Alligator mississippiensis) as a commercial, renewable resource and as part of the state’s wetland ecosystem.
Bankston explained that gators, like other wildlife, are subject to strict hunting regulations. Alligator hunters must be licensed and obey the law regarding season and methods.
“There are a lot of laws in effect,” he said.
For now, motorists on U.S. 165 should probably be cautious about alligators in their path.
