A dead 11-and-a-half foot alligator was found Monday afternoon on the boat ramp at Burkhart’s Marina where a man was killed by a large alligator during a swim at 2:30 in the morning Friday. The gator had a large hole in between its eyes from a gunshot. No one claimed to have killed the alligator. Texas Parks and Wildlife Department game wardens were at the marina and referred questions to a supervisor. One game warden was asking questions about whether the gator was first found dead in the water or had already been pulled up the slanted boat ramp. About 3 p.m., the estimate was the gator had been dead perhaps two hours.
Texas hunting laws have strict rules for killing alligators and hunters must have a state-issued license. Sometimes game wardens get someone to catch a nuisance alligator that is a danger in a place frequented by people. Orange police said Friday that no official hunt was going to be conducted for the large alligator but some people talked about going after the one that attacked Woodward.
Game wardens Monday called Harlan “Bigfoot” Hatcher of Fannett who is featured on the History Channel’s “Swamp People.” Hatcher took the carcass and skinned it and later confirmed to JP Rodney Price that it was the gator that attacked and killed 28 year old Tommie Woodward on Friday. Hatcher estimates the alligator weighed about 400 pounds and was a 25 to 40-year-old male. When he opened the mouth, he could tell that the animal had been hooked. Alligator hunters set out meat on large hooks tied to trees. When the gator grabs for the meat, the hook sticks in its mouth. State law requires that dead alligators can be sold only to a licensed wholesale dealer or alligator farmer like Hatcher.
Woodward was killed by the alligator early Friday morning after he jumped into Adam’s Bayou to swim. The marina has ‘No Swimming’ signs along with one that reads ‘No Swimming Alligators.’ People at the marina told him not to go into the bayou because a large gator had been seen recently. The St. Louis Post Dispatch reported Woodward was originally from the St. Louis region and had moved to Orange with his twin brother to work in a shipyard.
Woodward apparently jumped on or near the alligator and it attacked him and then took him under the water. His body was found about two hours later in the bayou and had been disfigured by the alligator.
Hatcher, who gained the nickname “Bigfoot” because he is always barefoot, needed help lifting the alligator into his pickup truck. Orange Police Captain Weldon Smith called for firefighters, who arrived and helped game wardens and Hatcher lift the dead animal.
Burkhart’s Marina is a Cove neighborhood institution. A bar and grill selling popular hamburgers is on the edge of the bayou. A deck with a pier has tables and chairs. Alligators are often seen and regulars sometimes throw food at them, though feeding alligators is illegal under parks and wildlife laws. The recent sighting of an 11-foot or larger gator drew attention because the alligators usually seen there are smaller.
-Margaret Toal, KOGT-
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