Beware: Not all Your Katy Neighbors Want to be Your Friend!

My Mama grew up on a 400-acre Louisiana farm; it was a peninsula bordered by two bayous. These were picture postcard Louisiana bayous with cypress trees, Spanish moss, water moccasins, alligator gar fish and the real deal, alligators of all sizes. No kidding, creepy alligators that thumbed their long vicious noses at people who couldn’t do anything about them. When I was a child, alligators were on the Endangered Species list.

They flourished on the farm where I spent lots of time with my grandparents. I adored by grandparents and the farm where they raised Hereford cattle, cotton and soybeans. Sometimes when my Grandpa and I would go out in the truck to check the cattle, a huge gator would be basking in the pasture, enjoying the sun. If a cow gave birth to a calf too close to the bayou, that was it for the calf! Alligator appetizer. It was a hard financial loss for a farming family.

Once “Red”, the farm dog, ventured too close barking and growling at an alligator in the pasture. I vividly remember screaming (in the truck) when the gator, using his hunting style, snapped that huge tail in the direction of the dog. He missed by about a foot; “Red” jumped into the air like a cartoon character and took off like a Kentucky derby thoroughbred. Alive, but shaken and with a whole lot more respect for his reptilian associates, “Red” jumped into the truck with a new view of life in the Louisiana swamp land. Grandpa scolded me for screaming but I knew he was relieved to have his dog in one piece.

Here in Katy, each spring and summer, there are alligators that venture out of their natural bayou habitats into areas where they don’t belong anymore. Perhaps best know for these “visits” is Cinco Ranch just ask the “old-time” residents. The most famous incident was the small gator that came through a doggy door when the homeowners were on vacation. Seriously, I couldn’t make this stuff up; I read it in “The Houston Chronicle” several years ago.

This year, I know of two alligator “visits”, one in my own neighborhood Barkers Ridge, located at Morton Rd. and Barker Cypress. We have a gorgeous walking path that connects with the Cullen Park bike and hike path. Our water treatment MUD facility is adjacent to the path. There he was, boldly staking his claim to the water retention pond. Steadfast. Not moving.

It is rumored that several unsupervised children ventured too closely with butterfly nets! No tragedy occurred, we are not even aware of a missing dog. The Game Warden relocated the errant alligator but not before informing us that the gator was in his natural habitat and should not have been disturbed. That’s easier to understand about the wild ducks and cranes that populate the walking trail lake.

Seven Meadows, Grand Parkway and Fry Rd, had a big mama gator who, according to the experts who removed her, was looking for a place to lay her eggs despite it being late in the mating season. It seems gators are especially foul tempered when they are carrying eggs and nesting. My Louisiana cousins tell me that the female gator is not adverse to gobbling up a few of their offspring after they hatch. You know the old parental saying, “Now I know why some species eat their young!”

Video: 7 Foot Alligator Captured in Seven Meadows, Katy Texas

Photo Credit: Steve Beger