FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – A South Florida neighborhood saw the return of a familiar reptile visitor on Monday.
FAA drone pilot and Pompano Beach-based photographer Clarke Bowman captured footage of an 8-foot crocodile sunbathing on a dock at the Bay Colony Club in Fort Lauderdale.
That same croc, which wears a tracker, was spotted in the community back in November.
Andy Weiser and his neighbors have since seen it in the canal, and coming up to several homes.
“The neighbors are very freaked out right now,” Weiser said. “Nobody wants to hurt it, they just all want it out of the canal because we have people that kayak, paddle board.”
Trappers with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission have tagged the croc, but say there is nothing they can really do because it isn’t displaying any aggressive behaviors that would warrant its removal.
And even if it did, crocodiles have been known to make their way right back to places they have been removed from before.
“It’s in the neighborhood and it’s just sort of swimming around, and nobody knows where it’s going to appear next,” said Weiser.
The FWC stressed that if you do see a crocodile or alligator, always keep a safe distance and never feed those animals. If they get used to being fed, they’ll just keep coming back to that same place.