The 12-foot gator wasted no time, getting a girlfriend and making a name for himself in Gator Country.<\/p>\n
PORT ARANSAS, Texas \u2014 Boots, the alligator that became a local celebrity along the coast, is settling into his new home one month after being relocated for safety concerns.<\/p>\n
The 12-foot alligator was a familiar sight in Port Aransas, often drawing crowds of residents and visitors. But city leaders say that attention ultimately became a problem.<\/p>\n
\u201cBoots was a loved member of our community by many, but he became too much of an entertainment factor for too many people,\u201d Port Aransas Mayor Wendy Moore said.<\/p>\n
Officials say the alligator had grown too comfortable around humans, creating safety risks for both the public and the animal.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor safety reasons, we had to make the decision from the city\u2019s point to transport him to a better place,\u201d Moore said.<\/p>\n
About a month ago, on February 21st, Boots was relocated to Gator Country Adventure Park in Beaumont, Texas where he now lives in a controlled and protected environment.<\/p>\n
According to owner Gary Saurage, Boots is already adjusting well to his new surroundings.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve got Big Tex and Big Al, but I don\u2019t know who\u2019s more famous \u2014 Big Tex or Boots. It\u2019s a close race,\u201d Saurage said.<\/p>\n
Saurage, who has spent decades rescuing and wrestling alligators, said Boots is getting used to a new routine \u2014 and even a more social environment.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis time of year, is spring break, so he\u2019s seeing hundreds of people a day \u2014 and when they walk on those outdoor feeding decks, he can feel the vibrations,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
While many along the coast say Boots is missed, wildlife experts emphasize that his story serves as an important reminder.<\/p>\n
\u201cI can tell you 90% of every fatal attack that involves an American alligator is because of one reason \u2014 people feed the alligator,\u201d Saurage said.<\/p>\n
Now, instead of crowds gathering too close, Boots has more space and a safer place to live.<\/p>\n
Saurage says the facility hopes Coastal Bend visitors will come see Boots in his new home this summer.<\/p>\n
Video of Boots at his new habitat was provided by Gator Country Adventure Park via social media.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The 12-foot gator wasted no time, getting a girlfriend and making a name for himself in Gator Country.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":216573,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[155,157,156],"class_list":["post-217293","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-corpus-christi","tag-corpus-christi","tag-corpus-christi-headlines","tag-corpus-christi-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/217293","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=217293"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/217293\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/216573"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=217293"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=217293"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=217293"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}