Monitor Editor
KEYSTONE HEIGHTS— City leaders are emphasizing the importance of not feeding alligators after a six-foot alligator appeared near a group of children playing at Keystone Beach over the weekend.
The incident left a 12-year-old boy stranded on the beach’s swimming platform for over an hour until two men used a buoy rope to pull the platform to shore.
City Manager Lynn Rutkowski said the reptile was removed from the area Saturday evening by Florida Fish and Wildlife.
Rutkowski said the swimming platform was not damaged during the incident, and that swimming continues to be allowed at the beach.
“We live in Florida and there are alligators in the water,” she said. “People need to be mindful of that. The message we are trying to emphasize now is don’t feed the alligators.”
Rutkowski said that the last two alligators removed from the Keystone Heights area exhibited no fear of humans and Fish and Wildlife officers believe the gators had been fed by humans.
She added that prior to the six-footer being removed from Lake Geneva on Saturday, the animal showed no reluctance to approaching humans.
