The extraordinary images below show an American alligator (Alligator mississippiensis) with what appears to be a freshly killed adult white-tailed deer. I imagine if the gator didn’t find the deer dead fresh that it took the deer swimming or crossing the waterway or via ambush.

The American alligator was once an endangered species, but it is now considered a recovered species. However, as these great predators continue to recover, conflicts with people will likely become more common. Furthermore, primarily because of fear and ignorance, humans have historically targeted large predators (the gray wolf is a good example). From the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service:

The sight of a 12 to 14 foot-long alligator is something south Georgia folks see occasionally, but few have seen one take an adult deer out to lunch. Actually — for lunch.

The photographs of this deer-eating alligator were taken from the air by Terri Jenkins, a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service District Fire Management Officer. She was preparing to ignite a prescribed fire at Harris Neck National Wildlife Refuge, about 40 miles south of Savannah, Georgia, on March 4, 2004. The photo has

“One advantage of fire work is you get to see that 12-14 footers are common from Santee National Wildlife Refuge in South Carolina to Coastal South Carolina to Georgia’s coast,” said Jenkins. “It looks like the alligator population is doing extremely well.”

This one was at least 12-13 feet long. Jenkins said that some bull alligators have a 35 inch girth.

The Service uses a helicopter capable of igniting controlled burns by dropping flaming fuel-filled ping pong balls on pre-selected areas. She works throughout parts of North Carolina, South Carolina and Coastal Georgia refuges and fish hatcheries. The Service uses prescribed fire to improve habitat and reduce the risk of catastrophic wildfires.

Images via Terri Jenkins for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

A very large alligator was shot in Texas back in 2005, because it was living in someone’s back yard. From Brazosport Facts:

“The first time I really got an idea of the size of it was when they got it,” Anita Rogers said.

Spring is mating season for the reclusive animals and the bulls tend to roam, said Joe Goff, who is not only the game warden who shot the animal, but has a house behind the Rogerses.

“In the last two weeks, we’ve had a number of nuisance alligator calls,” Goff said.

But Friday’s took the cake. Normally, game wardens will capture the animals and turn them over to alligator farms. Not this one.

“He’s too big,” Goff said. “We couldn’t capture him, he’s too dangerous. He’ll eat the females.”

Goff said the alligator swam to within 3 feet of him. Goff shot him with a .22-caliber rifle.

“He’s blind in his left eye,” Goff said. “It was spooky.”

Goff said the alligator will be given to a nuisance hunter who puts bids in with the state and will pay for the animal. The hunter then will clean the carcass and sell the meat and hide for processing.

While alligators can be a danger to pets, they’re generally not a threat to humans, said Charles Mann, a zookeeper in the reptile and amphibian department at the Houston Zoo.

“Certainly an alligator that gets up to 13 feet long gets that way by being very wary and probably tries to shy away from anything that could hurt it, mainly people,” Mann said.

Mann estimated the animal had to be at least 12 to 15 years old, but could be much older, based on its size.

“They grow about a foot a year until they’re 7 or 8 feet long, then past that they grow slower,” Mann said. “The record for longevity would be 50 or 60 years.”

Anita Rogers said she kept her dogs in the fence when she first heard the stories and heard the bellowing, which she likened to a giant bullfrog.

The Rogerses are glad the reptile is gone, but they don’t have problems with the smaller ones in the water.

“They keep the bayou cleaned out,” Charles Rogers said.

Mann said the animals, which have been around for hundreds of millions of years, were almost wiped out before the federal government stepped in.

“It’s really a success story of the Endangered Species Act,” he said.