BEAUMONT, Texas – With more than 350 American alligators living outside of the largest park and sanctuary in Southeast Texas, “Gator Country” is at risk of losing all of its gators to flooding caused by Tropical Storm Harvey.
“We're less than a foot from (water) going over the fences," Gary Saurage, owner of Gator Country, told a CNN affiliate station in Beaumont, Texas.
“All of these are certified, high fences, but when it won't quit, it won't quit. We've worked around the clock and I don't know what else to do. We're truly tired. Everybody's at the end of it, man. We don't know what to do,” Saurage said.
The park, located 90 miles east of Houston in Beaumont, Texas, has received more than 17 inches of rain in the past couple of days.
However, if Tropical Storm Harvey continues to dump heavy rain in southeast Texas, Saurage’s life work of rescuing gators for more than 10 years could be washed away in a matter of days.
“I've never seen (the water) stay anywhere near this before. The staying power of this storm is just unbelievable,” Saurage told the CNN affiliate station.
According to the park’s website, Gator Country is known for rescuing alligators from “people’s backyards, ponds, swimming pools” and gators that are stranded after severe weather.
Despite the park’s crocodiles, venomous snakes and other dangerous creatures being put away at high enough ground not to be a risk of escaping, Saurage told the CNN affiliate the alligators in the fenced areas could come over the fences if the water gets high enough.
The CNN affiliate reported that the park’s buildings and the newly added gift shop have received more than a foot of water inside.
More than 50 water rescues have been conducted in the Jefferson County area since midnight, according to the CNN affiliate.
St. Augustine Alligator Farm monitoring situation
About 825 miles away, the St. Augustine Alligator Farm Zoological Park is monitoring what's happening in Beaumont.
John Brueggen, the director of the St. Augustine Alligator Farm, said every time there is a threat of a major storm, they know severe flooding can lead to the escape of hundreds of gators, but it's all about planning ahead to make sure that doesn't happen.
Brueggen told News4Jax on Tuesday that he and his crew have plans in place should a major storm barrel toward St. Johns County.
"We just recently went through Matthew. Part of the protocol is to drop all of our ponds because we know they're going to fill back up at some point," Brueggen said.
Brueggen explained that allows the Alligator Farm to start with less water before a hurricane arrives. The Alligator Farm also has up to three tiers of different types of fences along elevated lands.
“Our perimeter fence is significantly higher. It’s 8 to 10 feet depending on where you are in the perimeter in the park," Brueggen said.
But what would happen should any of those gators actually escape?
According to experts, alligators that escape captivity are more dangerous to humans because they’re use to being fed by humans.”
“They’re not afraid of people as near as much as a wild alligator," Brueggen said. "I would think they are more of a challenge because they’re not intimidated.”
And if the alligators are not intimidated, they don’t have a problem coming toward a human and identifying a person as someone who can give them food.
