here - Satellite Beach

Internet – Newspaper Archives Searches
CALVIN R. PECK, JR.
(Articles are in reverse chronological order)
Tab 9
Star-News (Wilmington, NC)
November 15, 2006
Bald Head Island finds way to protect its alligators and the public
Author: Paul R. Jefferson
You don't have to be up to your neck in alligators before doing something to relieve a dicey or
dangerous situation.
But on Bald Head Island, the gators are more than a metaphor.
And if an unwelcome gator drops by your property, you can't takes steps to have it evicted from
the island without first consulting the village government and the group that keeps tabs on the
island's gator population.
To better coordinate the hows and wheres and when an alligator's presence on property
constitutes a public danger, the Bald Head Village Council recently ironed out a three-party
agreement to make sure both the gators and the public are adequately protected.
Calvin Peck, village manager, said the island community needed a formal system of notification
when alligators are sighted in unusual places. Alligators are commonly found in the island
marshes.
"We reached an agreement with the Wildlife Resources Commission, and the (Bald Head Island)
Conservancy to contact us next time it happens," Peck said. "The village and the conservancy
have to be in agreement before an alligator removal permit is released."
The agreement was deemed necessary after an island homeowner repeatedly spotted an alligator
on or near his property. Rather than contacting the conservancy or village officials, the
unidentified home-owner dialed up the Wildlife Resources Commission office to dispatch a crew
to remove the small gator, which the agency did, to the wilds of the Green Swamp.
That's a no-no, according to Suzanne Dorsey, executive director of the island conservancy.
"When you remove a gator, it upsets the balance of territories that the gators have established. It
puts them into new areas, and their behavior can get a little more unpredictable," she said. "The
conservancy definitely discourages individuals from doing anything when it comes to alligators."
The conservancy constantly monitors the island's gator population, she said. Based on nighttime
"spotlight counts" and daytime observations by conservancy interns on regular gator patrol,
Dorsey put the resident gator population at 22. The gators are only counted, not marked or
tagged.
Bald Head Island has a resident population of about 250 people year-round, though that number
swells tenfold and more in the tourist season.
Page 50 of 84