A 5-foot-long pet alligator named Mr. Teeth was found to be guarding a pile of 35 pounds of marijuana in Northern California. His 32-year-old owner was quickly arrested for marijuana procession.
Sadly, Mr. Teeth died overnight after being taken by the animal control. Poor guy!
You see all kinds of animals being used as guards. Not so often with reptiles because they aren't usually reliable as guards. I remember reading news of jewelry stores using venom snakes for guards, only found the expensive venom snakes were stolen along with the jewelries after the store was broken into.
A dying pet alligator wasn't much of a guard. It will be more effective if someone hide a chest of treasure in a deep pond full of alligators or crocodiles. These reptiles aren't usually very active on the land. The owner should be charged with animal abuse. He was obviously not taking good care of his alligator.
While in Florida, we found the next best thing to a dog for alerting us that company or strangers, were in the yard was our flock or wild turkeys. If someone came into the yard the turkeys would raise a commotion and the tom turkey was know to attack if strangers came to close. I myself suffered from tom turkey's spurs more than once when I unknowing walked to close to his hens. It really hurts getting spured in the legs and beaten by his powerful wings. We had photograhers that suffered the same fate when trying to photograph the hens sitting on a nest of eggs.
08-10-2013, 02:41 AM, (This post was last modified: 08-10-2013, 02:50 AM by Tribie.)
I don't even think that the reptiles know that they are guarding something at all! Lol! Of course no decent person in his right mind would dare to steal anything if there is an alligator around. I do not think anybody would risk being "snapped at" with those sharp teeth! I wonder why the alligator died. Poor thing. He might have been handled poorly by the animal control people. I think reptiles shouldn't be used to guard things at all but let's face it, they can be really effective. Nobody would dare to risk dealing with a dangerous reptile even if most reptiles are far smaller than people. A snakes tank would be a good place to hide small valuables but would you even risk putting your hand into the tank?
Could be that the alligator has not been well looked after and that's why it was found dead the next day.
I had to laugh at the story about the venomous snakes being stolen along with the jewels they were supposed to be hiding.
I have heard of geese being effective guard dogs because they announce the arrival of any stranger with their honking, and a flock of geese can be quite aggressive.
I would not go in with an alligator, even if I thought that he looked like he was sick. He might just be feeling hungry, and only needed something to eat.
That said, I really don't think that using a reptile to guard something is a good idea either. I have had geese and turkeys before, and either one of those will quite likely go after anyone that comes in your yard.
The problem with that is, you may not want your company getting spurred or pecked by a turkey, or snapped by the geese.
Another bird that is a great guard bird, but is not so apt to attack, is a Peacock. They will sound the alarm, and let you know that someone is out there, but they are not as apt to peck someone as a goose or turkey is, however, they will often stroll around the stranger, and give them a sharp look over, which will probably discourage anyone from wandering around much, before you can get to the door and let them in the house.
07-08-2016, 02:43 AM, (This post was last modified: 07-08-2016, 02:43 AM by cecejailer.)
What the... Seriously. I mean, that must be really effective, people are surely more scared of alligators than dogs but... What the hell. The funny thing is, the alligator doesn't even know he's guarding something... He's just there.
But that's illegal, right? Doing this to a wild animal? Poor thing, he died the next day. Bet he wouldn't if this f*d up person had never put his hands on him. Humans can be very cruel.
Although it is not stated in the opening post, my guess is that the alligator was not already dying when they took it to the animal control center; he was probably quickly put down once they got him there. What else are they going to do with the five foot long alligator ? He certainly is not an adoptable pet, and even if he had been raised as a pet (which is uncertain , too), if he was aggressive enough to be used as a "guard dog" alligator, then he was most likely aggressive to the animal control people who picked him up.
Since he was an alligator, it is probably surprising that they took him to the animal control compound at all and did not just shoot him out where they found the marijuana stash that the alligator was guarding.
Makes sense to me, somewhat at least. I am not too surprised by reading things or hearing about things like this anymore, though. These days the news is so strange that these things just slide right off. They are always fun to read though and see what people are up to out there. I know that I have seen some pretty serious looking reptiles in my day. But they were pretty easy to avoid.
People have this feeling that the display of menacing teeth by the reptiles would deter a potential thief forgetting that thieves do not actually come into contact with the pets. They usually study the area where valuables are placed so that they can design the game plan. This would needlessly expose the hapless animal to danger as teeth are impotent in the face of weapons like arrows. Think using sturdy and fixed safes should suffice as well as installing alarms which would be triggered when thieves strike. In some places in my country here in East Africa, some people fortify their premises with charms, amulets and other paraphernalia to guard their premises. Believe me not, scores of people have emerged from disparate locations eating grass and holding the objects they have stolen.
People have this feeling that the display of menacing teeth by the reptiles would deter a potential thief forgetting that thieves do not actually come into contact with the pets. They usually study the area where valuables are placed so that they can design the game plan. This would needlessly expose the hapless animal to danger as teeth are impotent in the face of weapons like arrows. Think using sturdy and fixed safes should suffice as well as installing alarms which would be triggered when thieves strike. In some places in my country here in East Africa, some people fortify their premises with charms, amulets and other paraphernalia to guard their premises. Believe me not, scores of people have emerged from disparate locations eating grass and holding the objects they have stolen.
People have this feeling that the display of menacing teeth by the reptiles would deter a potential thief forgetting that thieves do not actually come into contact with the pets. They usually study the area where valuables are placed so that they can design the game plan. This would needlessly expose the hapless animal to danger as teeth are impotent in the face of weapons like arrows. Think using sturdy and fixed safes should suffice as well as installing alarms which would be triggered when thieves strike. In some places in my country here in East Africa, some people fortify their premises with charms, amulets and other paraphernalia to guard their premises. Believe me not, scores of people have emerged from disparate locations eating grass and holding the objects they have stolen.
This would needlessly expose the hapless animal to danger as teeth are impotent in the face of weapons like arrows. Think using sturdy and fixed safes should suffice as well as installing alarms which would be triggered when thieves strike. In some places in my country here in East Africa, some people fortify their premises with charms, amulets and other paraphernalia to guard their premises. Believe me not, scores of people have emerged from disparate locations eating grass and holding the objects they have stolen.
This would needlessly expose the hapless animal to danger as teeth are impotent in the face of weapons like arrows. Think using sturdy and fixed safes should suffice as well as installing alarms which would be triggered when thieves strike. In some places in my country here in East Africa, some people fortify their premises with charms, amulets and other paraphernalia to guard their premises. Believe me not, scores of people have emerged from disparate locations eating grass and holding the objects they have stolen.
This would needlessly expose the hapless animal to danger as teeth are impotent in the face of weapons like arrows. Think using sturdy and fixed safes should suffice as well as installing alarms which would be triggered when thieves strike. In some places in my country here in East Africa, some people fortify their premises with charms, amulets and other paraphernalia to guard their premises. Believe me not, scores of people have emerged from disparate locations eating grass and holding the objects they have stolen.
This would needlessly expose the hapless animal to danger as teeth are impotent in the face of weapons like arrows. Think using sturdy and fixed safes should suffice as well as installing alarms which would be triggered when thieves strike. In some places in my country here in East Africa, some people fortify their premises with charms, amulets and other paraphernalia to guard their premises. Believe me not, scores of people have emerged from disparate locations eating grass and holding the objects they have stolen.
This would needlessly expose the hapless animal to danger as teeth are impotent in the face of weapons like arrows. Think using sturdy and fixed safes should suffice as well as installing alarms which would be triggered when thieves strike. In some places in my country here in East Africa, some people fortify their premises with charms, amulets and other paraphernalia to guard their premises. Believe me not, scores of people have emerged from disparate locations eating grass and holding the objects they have stolen.
This would needlessly expose the hapless animal to danger as teeth are impotent in the face of weapons like arrows. Think using sturdy and fixed safes should suffice as well as installing alarms which would be triggered when thieves strike. In some places in my country here in East Africa, some people fortify their premises with charms, amulets and other paraphernalia to guard their premises. Believe me not, scores of people have emerged from disparate locations eating grass and holding the objects they have stolen.
