It might sound too ludicrous to be true, but officers in Tampa arrested a man for shooting at an alligator while illegally dumping tires, local news station WFLA reported.
What's happening?
According to a Facebook post from Florida's Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, officers "witnessed a man enter the property and begin shooting at an alligator from the window of his truck before throwing more tires from his vehicle."
Officers were patrolling the property after they had found thousands of tires illegally dumped there.
The man, who authorities identified as 40-year-old Arisleyder Reina-Tornes, said that he was shooting at the alligator "because it was going to attack him," per local news station WOFL.
But the officers said otherwise.
"Mr. Reina-Tornes was still in his vehicle when he was first shooting at it, and the alligator never made any threatening movements toward him, and when we approached the alligator, it never approached us," they stated. "Mr. Reina-Tornes was caught in several lies, even admitting to us that he had lied, and it appeared most of what he was telling us was untruthful, so we decided to no longer continue our interview."
Reina-Tornes was arrested for tire dumping, attempting to take an alligator, operating an unregistered vehicle, and driving while in possession of an open container.
Why is this so harmful?
Mr. Reina-Tornes exhibited an attitude and a disregard for nature that many deem dangerous.
Firstly, dumping tires is incredibly harmful to the environment. Tires are made up of thousands of chemicals, many of which are toxic to plants and animals. And when they're left sitting in wet, grassy areas like this one, they slowly break down over time, releasing those chemicals into the environment. From there, they can trickle back up the food chain and into the food we grow and consume.
Shooting at an alligator for sport also displays a blatant disrespect for the animals that coexist with us on this planet.
Sadly, Reina-Tornes is hardly alone in this attitude. Earlier this summer, hunters in California were arrested for producing fraudulent hunting licenses and tags to hunt and kill deer and bears beyond their legal limit. One of them even killed a mountain lion, which is a protected animal in the state.
What's being done about this?
Many groups are looking for more effective ways to reuse and recycle tires to keep them from breaking down where they are, too often, illegally dumped.
By prosecuting offenders like this one for the harm done to the alligator in question, officials hope that people will instead seek a more respectful relationship — from a distance — with the local wildlife.
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