Alligator sightings increase in RGV with weather

SOUTH PADRE ISLAND, Texas (ValleyCentral) — Alligators are more likely to be displaced from their natural habitat when the weather changes.

The South Padre Island Birding, Nature Center and Alligator Sanctuary was called when an alligator had been spotted near the shore of Cameron County Beach Access 5.

Jacob Reinbolt, a zoologist and alligator wrangler at the sanctuary, said he had received many calls about the alligator before he was finally able to catch and relocate it on Friday.

Reinbolt said he often gets called to retrieve alligators across the Rio Grande Valley when there is a weather impact.

“When it floods, they have access to all kinds of new water and they’re going to utilize every bit of that. When those flood waters start to recede, sometimes that can leave them in places you wouldn’t expect to see an alligator and that’s probably the largest reason for the increase in alligator sightings that we’ve had this year," Reinbolt said.

Reinbolt stressed the importance of not feeding an alligator when you come in contact with it. His priority is making sure the alligators can be relocated and remain in the wild, which he said cannot happen if they have been fed.

“So long as it’s a wild alligator, they get to stay a wild alligator so that’s when we’ll do the relocation," Reinbolt said. "All the animals that are in our sanctuary are here because they can’t be in the wild anymore, and that’s usually because someone has fed them which is the worst thing you can do to an alligator."

While alligators typically tend to avoid human interaction, Reinbolt said if they have been fed, they will seek out humans in search of more food. This makes them too dangerous for the wild.

He does educational shows at the SPI Birding, Nature Center and Alligator Sanctuary every day at 11 a.m., 1:30 p.m. and 3:30 p.m.

The shows are intended to provide more information on the alligators that live in the Rio Grande Valley.