Is Lubbock Prepared To Deal With An Alligator Problem?

In case you are not aware, there has been a spike in alligator sightings. 

Texas alligators are definitely Texas sized running 6 to 14 feet long (I'm not sure why, but people tend to think or wish that alligators are smaller than that). Imagine opening your front door in Lubbock and finding an alligator there. Alligators like fresh or brackish water and we have something that resembles that here. Just the other day I saw an enormous school of catfish on the little lake/river on Avenue P and they would be very tasty morsels for an alligator.

Texas Parks And Wildlife actually shows alligators appearing west of Dallas, so that's not that far away. So could an alligator make it's way from Dallas to Lubbock? Technically, it's possible. Alligators walk at about ten miles and hour, but can sprint thirty miles an hour when needed. Dallas to Lubbock is only 345 miles, so an alligator on a mission, could make the trip if it maintained a constant speed of 10 miles an hour (unlikely) in a day and a half. Add a little flooding and a little confusion and who knows if one could show up in the Hub City?

So what do you do if you see an alligator in your backyard? It's best to just call someone. Alligators are classified as protected game and you need special permits to hunt them. It is unlikely that Central or East Texas will flood enough to push alligators this way, and we are far, far away from the alligators down south. So we're unlikely to have a massive alligator problem here, but a visitor is technically possible. Be prepared.