Fluidr / WanaM3's "ABNC Alligator Capture" set

The Capture

N 3 B 949 C 22 E Jul 31, 2012 F Aug 4, 2012

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Good evening Flickr friends and be prepared for a rather lengthy post. All of the photos in this particular upload are not the greatest , but they document a very important part of alligator research that is going on at Horsepen Bayou which is part of the Armand Bayou complex. Armand Bayou Nature Center works to preserve the surrounding areas, and a healthy alligator population is an important part of the ecosystem.

I took a routine canoe trip to Horsepen Bayou on Tuesday July 31 to photograph wildlife. While on the bayou I discovered that one of the traps had been sprung and it now contained about a 7 foot female. I contacted the Nature Center and their response was immediate. Mark arrived very promptly with the research team and they proceeded to get down to the business of tagging this particular alligator.

Fortunately, I was invited to stick around for the procedure and to come aboard the electric pontoon boat and observe and photograph the event. There are a number of photos in the sequence and I hope they are informative. I only wish that I had been a little more thorough, but this was a first for me. I hope that I can get the names of the Texas A&M researcher along with the members of staff at Armand Bayou Nature Center who assisted in controlling the not too happy alligator. All very courageous and dedicated people. Also present was a young gentleman named Chris from the City of Pasadena who was doing a documentary on the ongoing research.

The team at the nature center are fitting transponders to the alligators that they have trapped and will now be able to track their movements in the bayou to better understand their habits. Hope everyone enjoys the photos and the efforts put forth by the team to subdue the alligator and fit her with the tracking device.

This is the first photo in a sequence of about 50 shots taken. Please view the entire sequence if you have the time.