Is this real?? Please help me settle an arugument....?

Question

I received an email from a good high school friend about this large alligator in the Kokosing River here in Ohio.
However, believing it to be real, I passed it on to friends & family.
Then I get a call from my sister that she had same picture, but they were from Georgia.
Then when Hubby gets home he finds same one... from 1 year ago, saying it's from Florida.

So, my question is... who IS the original photographer AND were was it originally taken!
And the one photo where they show him caught... is it the same gator??

To see these pictures I added them to my blog for easiest access... if you hadn't already seen them that is.... Link is below.
If you have already seen them Can you please, give me some insight into them... Because it seems these are going all over the world... well at least the country. :o)
Any help will be greatly appreciated.

I'm sorry, here is the link to see the pictures, if you don't know which ones I'm referring to...
http://blog.360.yahoo.com/blog-xmlOkpEwcry6iPsddPk-?cq=1&p=248

Answer 1

I found this on snopes, apparantly the story is true, just not to your area.
http://www.snopes.com/photos/animals/gatordeer.asp

Answer 2

well I'm not good at photoshop (don't even have it) and can't tell if someone has faked something but here's my take on the situation since I live in FL.

If I had received the email (which I haven't received any with pics on them) of the aligator my first thought would have been..."yes, due to climate change we too in FL are finding unexpected animals in our lakes as well, because they are seeking water, mating, and because apparently years ago people bought water animals and didn't know what to do with them when they moved residence so they dumped them into the waters, and now they are showing up all grown up." Recently we found a python and some other man eating animal in our waters here in FL. So a large animal like that didn't shock me. But ALL lakes in FL have aligators in them, in fact when I go to take out the trash there they sit on the banks of the lake sunning themselves. We cannot do anything to them (like get rid of them) unless they come after someone or our pets because they are still on the endangered list.

So anyway, after I saw your question and I looked at the pics I can say that where the picture is taken is not FL because our trees don't look like that. Our trees here are straggly, and if found in bunches usually they are a different kind of tree. So the pic "appears" not to be taken in FL. I've never been to GA but it's possible for the pic to have been taken there (but it wouldn't be too much of a shock.. If it really was taken in OH then I'd think that's why everyone was so excited, because that would be a rarity..and those people are not only showing a climate change phenomenon but are giving a warning. Which these days may very well be a sincere warning.

But as I read about the story (and if I'm not mistaken) it says they noticed or took the pics from the air, and the one picture was not taken from the air so I'm confused.now not knowing if I read it right or not. One more thing, that guy has a shirt on and slacks (like northerners wear). Here for the past 6 weeks it's been super hot here and people generally are in far less clothes than that guy in the pic. That kind of clothing would be worn only in the evening like going for dinner, and even then it would be only rarely because people here are tourists. Even outdoors career people wear less and lighter clothing than that in FL. His slacks look northern. The waters don't seem like FL waters either.

Answer 3

Quoting the source below: "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."

Answer 4

There's no way that is real. I'm also in Ohio and have only seen a story on the news recently about a kid who hooked a 3ft long crock. That would be all over national news if someone found a 12 footer who was killing deer.

Answer 5

Never saw this picture before and when i went on your profile, i didnt see it. sorry.
best wishes though!!

Answer 6

check snopes.com for it, to see if it's a scam/urban myth thing.