The cows that survived Ike are being eaten by alligators

[rainbow4321]

(cringe) One more reason to NOT go back (or to stay!). If they are going after cows, ya think they would hesitate to go after unsuspecting humans?


http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/tx/6005819.html

Agriculture officials said late Tuesday they've found about 4,000 dead cows in portions of two Southeast Texas counties searched in the aftermath of Hurricane Ike.

Some cows left stranded or that perished might never be found, though. "They're being eaten by alligators," said Kathleen Phillips, spokeswoman for the Texas AgriLife Extension Service.

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http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/6003841.html

A dead cow lay bloated in the sun. Other cows, escaped from fenced pastures, wandered neighborhood streets. One stood beneath a home raised on 12-foot pilings. Neighbors said it appeared there after the storm and has refused to leave.

[Gman]

1. Takes care of disposing of a large dead animal

gators have their uses.

[skooooo]

2. nature isn't always pretty...

..but a gator's gotta do what a gator's gotta do

[Davis_X_Machina]

3. Not every 'circle of life'...

...finds its way into a Disney flick.

[cobalt1999]

6. LOL

:rofl:

[CoffeeCat]

7. Ok, that's funny...

Cross stitch that on a pillow!

:rofl:

[CoffeeCat]

4. My husband just said that one of the local zoos...

...has lost a tiger?

I have not seen this story, but my husband saw the story on CNN.

[TheDebbieDee]

11. I think I remember reading reports that a tiger

was loose on Boliver/Bolivar Island/Peninsula.

[moriah]

30. Didn't another article report that a guy wouldn't evacuate because they wouldn't take his lion?

Maybe one and the same...

[Tallison]

5. Alligators attacking 4,000 live cows or 4,000 dead cows?

'Cause you said those that 'survived.' I'm trying to wrap my head around an alligator attacking a live cow, much less 4,000 times - are they that...ballsy?

[flvegan]

12. Likely cows left to die in the hurricane being scavenged by gators.

If it were puppies and kittens, DU would lose it's collective fucking mind.

[Tallison]

15. Knew a woman in Florida who watched her show dog get

gotten by a gator. Thankfully, they didn't punish the gator for doing what gators do. I'm sure it's not an uncommon fate for Gulf companion animals.

[UndertheOcean]

16. thats funny , and true !

[uncle ray]

28. cows are pretty easy to take down.

their legs are fragile, similar to horses. a gator could get a few good chomps in and the cow is down, once down it's all over for the cow.

[Tallison]

31. Can't imagine it would be a slow death

given the gator vs. cow dimensions. Ugh, shudder... :scared:

[Canuckistanian]

8. It must suck to be a cow

Always being herded around, pumped full of chemicals and now alligators.

If they had opposable thumbs, they'd probably be hanging themselves.

[samuraiguppy]

9. when I was a kid we lived in the south a few

years--usually gators went after dogs (a better size for them). They must be pretty good sized gators....

[Speck Tater]

10. Send Sarah Palin down there in a plane to shoot gators from the air. NT

[Ghost in the Machine]

13. More than likely they're crocodiles, not alligators... crocs live saltwater & brackish water

Alligators live in fresh water...

Seems like the folks at the Texas AgriLife Extension Service would know that...

[Behind the Aegis]

17. I don't believe crocs live in that area, only a small band in FL.

Alligators eat live food. Chances of cows not being found is more likely they were washed out to sea and drowned. However, in desperation alligators will attack something larger, but often only attack things their size or smaller.

[Ghost in the Machine]

22. You're right, I should have looked it up first...

They do have a population in Mexico though... it wouldn't be unthinkable for some to migrate north, then again, I'm not all that familiar with the climate on the Texas coast, either...


Of course, an alligator like this wouldn't have a problem attacking a cow:

[Behind the Aegis]

26. No prob.

I used to watch the Animal Channel all the time until they started with too many animal cruelty shows; just can't sit through those. With the changes in climate, a migration is always possible, but I hadn't see any reports of such. The "LA yard dogs" (Louisiana term for aligators) can get fairly large, but for the most part don't get bigger than 6 feet (I think)(which will attack a human). The one in your pic would likely attack just about any damn thing it wanted! YIKES!

[A HERETIC I AM]

19. Not in Texas.

The American Crocodile is not found in the lower 48 outside of the southern tip of Florida.

http://www.accessmylibrary.com/coms2/summary_0193-7855_ITM

Around here in Fort Myers, Alligators are often seen in brackish water and in tidal areas.

[Ghost in the Machine]

20. I've seen them in South Fla, lived there for years in the Homestead/Florida City area...

There were some living and breeding in the canals around Turkey Point Nuclear Plant. We used to see them off of Card Sound Road and in the wetlands between Florida City & Key Largo. A lot of people don't know how to differentiate between gators and crocs, though. Crocs have a longer, more narrow snout.

I wonder if it's possible that some migrated up to Texas from Mexico?

With gators like this around though, anything is possible:

[Tallison]

32. Holy reptile!

1) That's a big lizard...
2) Story behind the pic?

[Ghost in the Machine]

33. It was killed in Texas in 2005

http://www.snopes.com/photos/animals/wcgator.asp

[RebelOne]

34. They aren't just in the Homestead/Fla. City area.

I lived in Miami Springs just across the street from a canal, which ran from the Miami River. And alligators would come out and go into the small lakes around the area. One time, my brother picked one up on the street in front of the house, threw it into his trunk and drove it to the Miami Springs police station and dropped it off.

[Ghost in the Machine]

36. Yes, *alligators* are everywhere in Fla... we're talking crocodiles here, though...

I lived in Miami Springs for a while, too.. right behind the Denny's & Victoria Station across from the airport... I used to fish in the canal you're talking about...

:hi:

[underseasurveyor]

14. With so much beef lying around the gators have easy pickings.

I don't think people have too much to worry about.. but still be careful where you step:scared:

[Captain Hilts]

18. Poor things. The cows. And the gators, actually. nt

[codjh9]

21. I'm not laughing about that (the poor cows), but it sounds like Wall St.

[HughMoran]

23. Steak tartare

:rofl:

[FKA MNChimpH8R]

24. That subject line just caroms off the brain at a very weird angle

sorta like "Bigfoot found living in trailer park." "Cow" and "alligator" look odd sitting in such close juxtaposition.

[chatnoir]

25. Poor cows. Survive a hurricane only to be eaten by alligators.

:-(

[misanthrope]

27. I'm not completely buying that...

...I can see a good sized gator going after a cow carcass. Unless the prey is pretty small, gators have to let "kills" decay to eat them anyway, sticking them under logs and whatnot in the water. But an average gator going after a healthy full grown cow? Not likely while there are other more easily snagged or eaten things around.

[uncle ray]

29. after surviving the hurricane, the cows probably are not too healthy.

it's very likely if 4000 were left to the storm, that there could be hundreds of downer cattle, making easy pickings for the gators. in the panic of the storm, no doubt many cattle injured themselves.

i grew up on farms, i've seen plenty of cows injure themselves to the point they can't get up by themselves. they are also vulnerable to electric shock, i've seen a full dairy barn full of cows(about 100 head)wiped out from a short circuit in the barn cleaner in the second or two it took for the breaker to trip. they are not very tough animals, nor smart.

[SoCalDem]

35. Nature is quite cruel, sometimes, but then alligators have to eat too

and those cows were not very well tended to, or they would have been taken elsewhere BEFORE the storm.. Now it's too late..