Recently, a neighborhood crocodile named Pancho that resides near Gables by the Sea has died as a result of a trapping. The trapping came shortly after biting two late-night intoxicated swimmers in the canal in which is resides. Pancho, coming in at 12-feet-long and 300 pounds, died early Friday morning, August 29 after being snared and hauled ashore by trappers. “This is not the beginning that we wanted, and it certainly is not the ending we wanted,” said Jorge Pino, a spokesman for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. “He died fighting. He was weak and lethargic and at some point died."
Pino said it was unclear as to the cause of Pancho’s death because nothing out of the ordinary happened during the trapping process, but the process in and of itself is traumatic, and it’s like the reptile dies onshore or as it was being hauled away. The hunt for Pancho brought out over half a dozen trappers from South Florida, making it one of the largest searches the Florida Wildlife Commission has ever coordinated for a single reptile.
The crocodile population, when compared to alligators, is small, but the population has grown enough for the FWC to elevate the species’ status from endangered to threatened. The populations of crocodiles along the Florida coast is estimated to be anywhere from 1,200 to 2,000. Federal wildlife managers have a “crocodile human interaction plan,” which has never had to be used until the incident with Pancho.
Wild Florida provides Everglades airboat rides, in which you can experience alligators and other Everglades-indigenous animals that you cannot experience anywhere else. We provide airboat rides during the day and at night that range anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour. To book one of our Everglades airboat rides, visit this page.
