Dead gator left in ditch of Saint Cloud neighborhood

SAINT CLOUD, Fla. (FOX 35 WOFL) - Something is rotting in a Saint Cloud neighborhood, as someone caught a gator, cut it up, and just left it there.

Lynnette Jones let her father-in-law know where their new neighbor is -- a dead 8-foot alligator left in the ditch across the street from their property. It was found there sometime before the sun rose on Saturday.  Lynnette's son found it on his way home from work and immediately called Florida Fish and Wildlife (FWC) to report it.

FWC says that it was not their responsibility to move it and they said that the county should keep their eye out for poachers. So, the alligator has just been sitting there in the ditch, baking in the sun, getting smellier by the minute.

As a longtime hunter, Lynnette is pretty sure she knows what happened to this guy. "Someone wanted the meat," she said. " The ycut out as much as they could and I do think the mail is missing." 

Lynnette wants to tell whoever did this to "have some couth, I guess. Be polite. There's lots of swamps out there. You obviously caught it in a swamp. Leave it there."

FWC says that if this dead alligator has been poached and left here, that would be illegal. If someone caught it legally and just ditched it on the side of the road, then that person is just a bad sportsman.