{"id":862359,"date":"2026-06-12T14:24:12","date_gmt":"2026-06-12T14:24:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/862359\/"},"modified":"2026-06-12T14:24:12","modified_gmt":"2026-06-12T14:24:12","slug":"alligators-spotted-near-huntsville-neighborhoods","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/862359\/","title":{"rendered":"Alligators spotted near Huntsville neighborhoods"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"text | article-text\">HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (<a href=\"http:\/\/www.waff.com\" title=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">WAFF<\/a>) &#8211; Warmer temperatures are bringing alligators out across the region, and wildlife officials are reminding residents to keep their distance.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">Alligator season in Alabama can span several months, but the cold-blooded reptile is typically out during the warmer summer months. Residents can expect to see them in areas with bodies of water across North Alabama.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">The Alabama Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries division advises people to leave alligators alone. It is illegal in the state to feed them, and residents are asked to keep their distance from a gator.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">\u201cAlligators that become acclimated to people and learn to associate people with handouts and food can become dangerous,\u201d said Marianne Gauldin with the Alabama Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries division. \u201cDo not feed an alligator. It\u2019s not cute, it\u2019s not funny, and it can create a problem for people in your neighborhood or even people that come much later.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">Gauldin said it\u2019s finally warm enough for cold-blooded reptiles to be outside. Alligators have lived in North Alabama for decades, and Gauldin said they\u2019re not out to harm any humans.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">She said residents should leave them alone and not approach to take pictures or feed them.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">\u201cSeeing an alligator is not a problem. That\u2019s wildlife watching,\u201d Gauldin said. \u201cIt\u2019s completely normal to see alligators doing normal alligator things, which may mean they\u2019re on the bank, they\u2019re swimming by, or they\u2019re out in the water. Any alligator that is approaching people or coming up towards commotion needs to be reported to the Alabama Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries division to be evaluated about whether this alligator is a nuisance and a potential problem.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">If a gator finds its way into a neighborhood pond, the same laws apply. Gators are protected under Alabama law, so it is illegal to harm them under most circumstances.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/@waff48news\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/@waff48news\">Click Here to Subscribe on YouTube:<\/a> Watch the latest WAFF 48 news, sports &amp; weather videos on our YouTube channel!<\/p>\n<p>Copyright 2026 WAFF. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (WAFF) &#8211; Warmer temperatures are bringing alligators out across the region, and wildlife officials are reminding&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":862360,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[27],"tags":[14879,67020,14877,351695,20038,40032,8152,159,67,132,68,837,351696],"class_list":["post-862359","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-alligator","tag-gator","tag-huntsville","tag-marianne-gauldin","tag-neighborhood","tag-pond","tag-safety","tag-science","tag-united-states","tag-unitedstates","tag-us","tag-wildlife","tag-wildlife-and-freshwater-fisheries-division"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/862359","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=862359"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/862359\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/862360"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=862359"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=862359"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=862359"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}