12ft Florida alligator becomes a golf course celebrity, but he's not alone

Locals aren’t sure what’s so special about the giant reptile, nicknamed Goliath, since ‘where there’s water, there’s alligators in Florida’ – but he’s a social media hit

Jessica Glenza in New York

@JessicaGlenza

Friday 27 March 2015 21.16 GMTLast modified on Friday 27 March 201521.36 GMT

 A large alligator believed to be Goliath lies on the green.
Photograph: Myakka Pines Golf Club/Handout/EPA

A 12ft American alligator has become a minor celebrity for doing what he does best: gobbling turtles and roaming from pond to pond across the putting green of a Floridagolf course.

Golfers first captured the large gator, nicknamed Goliath, in early March, after he (it’s probably a male) walked near golfers at the seventh hole of the Myakka Pines Golf Course. On Thursday, staff captured the large alligator, which is believed to be the same reptile, devouring a turtle for breakfast.

“Lots of people are asking what alligators eat … here is Goliath having a turtle for breakfast. (Sorta nasty to see but it’s the reality of wild animals),” Myakka Pines posted on Facebook, only to have news outlets worldwide reach out about the creature.

“He’s not the only alligator we’ve got on the golf course,” said Mickie Zada, the general manager of Myakka Pines. “Where there’s water, there’s alligators in Florida.”

Read on ...

Live Shark Found Writhing On Golf Course

You've heard of pool sharks, but golf sharks are an entirely different matter.

Workers at the San Juan Hills golf course in San Juan Capistrano, Calif., were shocked on Monday when they came across a live shark flipping and flapping around the 12th hole tee.

"Our marshalls were doing their rounds and came across the fish writhing on the tee," Melissa McCormack, director of club operations, told The Huffington Post. "It was about two feet long so he put in the back of the golf cart."

Back at the clubhouse, the employees quickly figured out it was a shark, most likely a leopard shark, which are commonly found in bay environments and shallow waters along the West Coast, from as far south as Mazatlan, Mexico northward to Oregon, according to the Capistrano Dispatch newspaper.

As for how it got to the course, McCormack thinks it was meant to be a meal for some predatory bird.

"We're obviously not experts, but there were puncture marks and blood that is consistent with what we would expect those markings to look like," she said.

The course is more than a mile from the nearest ocean and McCormack and crew realized the shark needed to get back there in order to live, NBCSanDiego.com reported.

Read more:  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/23/live-shark-found-on-golf-course_n_2007139.html?utm_hp_ref=weird-news