This gator couldn’t find a mate, but that did not stop him from going on a date.
Taylor Forte, a 21-year-old UF civil engineering senior, had made a picnic for her fiancé, Trevor Walters, by Lake Alice last Thursday night. The two had planned the evening as a farewell since Walters was about to leave for 10 weeks for a training session.
The pair did not anticipate the added company of a 7-foot-long rowdy reptile.
“After 30 minutes of being there, we were just enjoying ourselves and even watched a few baby gators play, but out of nowhere, a big gator made a beeline for us from the water,” Forte said.
As the gator approached, the couple backed away from their picnic unaware of what it was going to do. Immediately, it went for the duo’s food.
“The gator went up to our food, grabbed the block of cheese, threw it up in the air and then ate it in one go,” Forte said.
After gulping down the cheese, she said the alligator consumed their watermelon, grapes, salami and an entire bowl of guacamole.
The couple both grew up in Florida and were aware of the alligators in the lake because of their frequent visits, but they never experienced something like this before, Forte said.
“It acted like a dog,” she said. “I've never seen a gator act like this.”
William Properzio, director of environmental health and safety at UF, wrote in an email that April through June is primary alligator mating season, and there is generally more activity during this time of the year.
UF is not aware of any alligator and human encounters on campus since the 1980s. During that time, small offshore islands were constructed in Lake Alice, providing them with an area to gather that is off the shoreline, Properzio said.
The university works with the state wildlife officials to relocate any large alligators that are coming to shore, but he is not aware of what action has been taken with respect to this particular animal, Properzio said.
Taylor Forte, a 21-year-old UF civil engineering senior, prepared a picnic with her fiancé, Trevor Walters, last Thursday evening. After about 30 minutes, an alligator came out of Lake Alice and consumed their entire set up
