How to end your career as a burglar

Now why did they have to kill the gator? He was just protecting the neighborhood. My father had a "pet" gator for years. He stayed in a fish pond and was fed fish and chicken parts. As long as the gator was in the pond there were no snakes there too.

Andy

why kill the gator?
1. because they can
2. because they like killing things
3. fearful, as trained to be

#3 is most probable, but all three combined is probably it

"...Now why did they have to kill the gator?.."

1. So they could safely recover the person's body.

There apparently was some time between the decedent fleeing from police, getting devoured by the gator, and then being reported missing. Not to mention the lag time between being a "reported missing person" and "911...I think I saw a body floating in Barefoot Bay".

So my question is (and it really is a serious question) : How long does it take a gator to digest his dinner?

I know nothing of gator behavior (we don't have many in Oklahoma...) but do gators "stash" what they can't eat...and save it for later? Was he protecting his food from the recovery divers? How did they know it was "old slant face" was the right gator?

I guess my point is; if you find a victim in the swamp with some serious chunks missing, do you cut open every gator you can get your hands on looking for what is missing? Nailing and recovering an 11' gator, getting him in the back of a truck and getting him to a facility for a post-mortem exam sounds like a pretty expensive undertaking (no pun intended). I guess they were lucky to get the right gator on the first try...

see #3 above

Once any critter is responsible for causing the death of any human or consumed human flesh, they are usually put down. They are rarely given a second chance as has happened in the past.

As a gator would just as soon attack an innocence as a guilty person, seems like the gator should have a special place at Sea World with lifetime benefits for having saved the Public untold expenses.

yes, same as dogs and cats. put one of each in a zoo and kill the rest.

We've had burglars "caught" when they fell through a roof, another got stuck in a chimney.

That incident must have been horrific.
We have too many in northern Australia grabbed and eaten by crocodiles.
Some in full view of warnings re crocodile infestations.