Troy Landry of Swamp People says that Hurricane Harvey can have a dangerous effect on the alligators, and could cause potentially harmful situations in the future.
“Along the coast when it gets real rough, alligators actually drown during big bad storms – when there’s a lot of wind and it’s real rough with waves,” he said. “The nests, some of the nests aren’t hatched yet, and if the water takes the nest, it will ruin all the eggs.”
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The History Channel star explained that the rising flood waters actually “displaces” the reptiles from their home.
“What it does is, it displaces a lot of them. It pushes alligators into places where they’re not normally at, and they cause a lot of problems,” he said.
Those “problems” that Landry mentions won’t be just for the alligators, but also for the people living in the flooded areas.
“[The gators will] be on the highways, you gotta be careful not to hit one with your car. You can total your car if you hit a big alligator on the road,” he said.
For those that do come across an alligator, Landry warns people against approaching them.
“They can wind up in some people’s yards. They’re wild animals. They might look like they’re harmless, but they’re very dangerous,” Landry said.
The Louisiana resident claims that if the proper authorities can take the displaced alligators to a safe location that they likely will not return.
“A lot of them, if you catch them and relocate them, they won’t come back. It’s just all this flooding pushed them into places that they’re not supposed to be in. If we move them back to the areas where they’re in the wild, nine out of ten they gon’ stay there. They ain’t gon’ come back.”
While ordinary citizens of the Houston area shouldn’t attempt to help the alligators, there are some animals that have been rescued by a group of locals. See some of the heart-wrenching photos of animals being rescued in the flood here.
