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Authorities are seeking $5,300 in restitution after refuting a fisherman's claim that he and a companion were was attacked by this 11-foot alligator before he killed it near Lake Worth on May 9.
By Deanna Boyd Fort Worth Star-Telegram
Published: 25 May 2012 07:47 AM
A fisherman who said he fatally shot an 11-foot alligator after being attacked could have to pay $5,300 after game wardens concluded that the animal was not killed in self-defense, Texas Parks and Wildlife officials said Thursday.
Patrick Miller and Keyon Ivory told authorities that they had been fishing in the Trinity River off Ten Mile Bridge Road near the Fort Worth Nature Center & Refuge on the evening of May 9 when the alligator came at their two-person boat, prompting both men to jump out and one of them to shoot it.
“We've just been attacked by an alligator and my friend just shot the alligator,” Ivory told dispatchers in a 911 call. A recording was obtained by the Star-Telegram.
Ivory told dispatchers that he and Miller had been fishing for several hours when they spotted the alligator.
“We just noticed this big log, but it moved and it was coming right at us,” Ivory said. “I mean deliberately coming right at us and we got right off the boat.”
He told dispatchers that Miller then shot the alligator with “artillery” that he keeps with him.
“I mean we keep this little rifle for snakes and stuff like that, but we weren't expecting this,” Ivory said. “How did something like that get in this little-bitty pond?”
Game wardens issued Miller two citations for hunting by illegal means and methods and for not having a hunting license. Ivory received two citations for having insufficient personal flotation devices and for having an unregistered vessel.
All the citations are Class C misdemeanors -- equivalent to a traffic ticket -- and are punishable by a fine of up to $500.
Texas Parks and Wildlife spokesman Mike Cox said the agency is also seeking $5,300 -- the estimated value of the alligator -- in civil restitution.
Game warden Clint Borchardt, who investigated the shooting along with Chelle Mount, said they did not seek more serious charges because of the findings of the investigation and because both men fully cooperated with authorities.
“It was not killed in self-defense,” Borchardt said. “It was kind of one of those things where maybe the perception was of an attack and indeed it was not that.
”I don't want to make them out to sound like they're poachers. Unfortunately, they made a bad choice is kind of what it comes down to.“
Neither Miller nor Ivory responded to messages seeking comment Thursday. According to their Facebook profiles, both are disc jockeys who live in Fort Worth.
In the 911 call, which lasted more than 14 minutes, dispatchers from various agencies talk with Ivory as they try to determine where, and in whose jurisdiction, the shooting occurred.
Throughout the call, an excited Ivory keeps repeating that the alligator is huge.
”I'm just panicked,“ Ivory said. ”I've never seen such a thing. I mean a big, huge gator.“
The man also tells dispatchers that he believes that the alligator is dead.
”We don't see it. It's dead in the water, though. I mean it came up and it rolled and he took another shot at it and he hit it. And it's a huge gator, though,“ he said.
”… I mean, how did something like that get in this water? Wow, man!“
Before the call ends, Ivory exclaims, ”Oh, my God. That's another one right there!“
The dispatcher cautions him, ”Don't get in the water,“ before Ivory apparently realizes that his eyes were playing tricks on him.
”No it ain't,“ he tells the dispatcher. ”That looks like one but it's not.“
Wardens using special sonar located the alligator's carcass in the river between Eagle Mountain Lake and Lake Worth the next day.
Borchardt said the alligator, which had started to decompose, had been shot at least once, but he would not comment on what kind of rifle had been used. The animal has been buried, he said.
Fifteen to 25 alligators live at the nature center, according to the city.
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