The lion at home

Richard Woods is pictured at the left of this photo, just one of the participants in "The great alligator gar battle of 1942" at the Black River in Poplar Bluff. In a 2006 interview, Woods shared fond memories of swimming near alligator gar as a child.

There was a lion in my house. I couldn't go home and no one understood my fear. That thing was going to eat me!

Ok, so I was dreaming about the lion at home. Had I been awake, I could've logically realized that there was no lion in my house and I was in no real danger.

Although alligator gar are named after the famously feared alligator, we need to be able to look at the alligator gar logically. We need to use our senses - and scientific fact - to come to the conclusion that alligator gar are not going to eat us. Let me tell you why I know this.

A basic fact to remember with alligator gar, according to my supervisor, MDC biologist AJ Hendershott, is that alligator gar regard their energy like we regard our money.

"We like going out to eat and when we do, we like to get the most food possible without spending a lot of money," Hendershott said. "Alligator gar are the same way. They like to eat the most food they can without spending a lot of energy."

Humans are too big and an alligator gar would have to spend a lot of energy to consume or attack us, he said. Alligator gar are docile creatures and are not nearly as viscous as people have accused them of being.

The fact is there have never been any proven cases of alligator gar attacks on people. There are, however, proven and documented peaceful interactions between people and alligator gar.

Angler and Poplar Bluff native Richard Woods was interviewed in 2006 about alligator gar. Woods, with his father and brother, was a participant of "the great alligator gar battle of 1942" when they caught a 135 lb. , 6 ½ foot long alligator gar in the Black River. In his 2006 interview, he described memories of swimming with alligator gar.

"I remember swimming with them [alligator gar] when I was twelve." He said. "These alligator gar would move up in the spring and hang around in the river holes. We watched two of them that moved into our swimming hole. We'd jump off of a leaning tree into the water time after time. It's a wonder we never hit either of them. "

Woods said the river pools were about 100 yards long back then.

"One year we went swimming with this girl and she wanted to be the first one in to swim out to this log," he said. "She was the first in and swam out to grab hold of that log. When she touched it, that log jerked and took off like a shot. She let out the God awfullest yell, swam back to the bank and swore she'd never go back there again."

When asked if he believed alligator gar to be dangerous, Woods said he said he didn't believe so.

If you're still wondering about the danger of swimming in the vicinity of alligator gar, take a look at the You Tube video produced by Animal Planet at this link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8l5jInC5tUA

This video, combined with the firsthand stories I shared with you above have convinced me that given the opportunity I would consciously make the decision to swim in the vicinity of alligator gar. In fact, it would be a treat to have a chance to see them underwater! But I still hope that dream about the Lion in my living room doesn't return.