Does Wildlife in Florida Concern You?
Welcome to Paradise.
I hadn't been in Florida long before I was bitten by several Fire Ants and needed medical attention. My doctor tells me I have an underlying allergic reaction and I shouldn't be embarrassed that I ended up on crutches. But let's be honest, NO ONE wants to admit they lost a fight with a bunch of ants and had to go to the ER.
When our son showed up I did make all sorts of effort to ensure he didn't get set upon by this underground monster. Needless to say by year three he had been attacked, in front of his mom, who swears to this day there were more than 200 bites. In her defense, she is probably right. It was a bad scene.
But there were worse incidents.
One year ago we were swimming in a lake and a gator popped up next to my son. One of his best friends has survived an alligator attack and I think Rocky wants some gator scars; and that's probably the only thing in my life that keeps me up at night. At any rate he left the water and the gator swam off. Good day.
The worst night we have had as a family was when my dog and I were tracked and then surrounded by coyotes in our neighborhood. They tracked us for a long time and then started sending the smaller ones to test our defenses. I only had a flashlight and ended up screaming "Bad Coyote!" until my wife and son ran outside to help. Coyotes don't like crowds so that worked in our favor.
The next day I was thinking that Rocky would be hesitant to be in the backyard alone, luckily I was very wrong. Early in the morning, Rocky got bread from the cupboard to feed a bunch of Sandhill Cranes that stopped by. When I asked if he was concerned about the coyotes he gave a great response which has become a standard refrain. "Na, I'm a Florida Boy."
So, probably like much of life, Wildlife Concerns are tempered by your personal perspective. Florida kids don't worry about it, they know what to do. But their dads still worry.
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