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American alligators have been all over the headlines in Alabama recently from gator hunts in south Alabama, to a rogue 10-footer killed in Oxford.

The gators that you rarely hear about, but definitely still exist, are the ones living in north Alabama, along the Tennessee River. Biologists at Wheeler National Wildlife Refuge and at Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville say the toothy creatures are seen every now and then in both locations, usually in out-of-the-way spots where few people go.

How'd they get here?

In 1979, 56 American alligators from Louisiana were dropped into remote areas of Wheeler National Wildlife Refuge as an effort to expand the range of the species, which at the time was listed as endangered and thought to be on the verge of extinction.

The full-grown alligators can, and did, make it through the colder north Alabama winters and a population of them has managed to hang on in the Tennessee River 37 years after the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service introduced the creatures.

Dwight Cooley, manager of the Wheeler refuge, said occasional gator sightings have been reported in the Tennessee River dating back to 1894, but many biologists believe those were pets that escaped or got released rather than indigenous animals.

"Some people have thought that they did occur naturally here on the Tennessee River, and some didn't, but the jury's kind of still out on that," Cooley said. "Back in the 1930s, '40s, '50s and even into the '60s a little bit you could buy baby alligators at almost any souvenir shop in Florida, and the thought was that's where a lot of the older sightings came from.

"But those 56 alligators that were released in 1979 are probably why we see alligators here along the Tennessee River today."

Cooley said he doesn't have a good estimate on how many gators are in the refuge now, but that they prefer the remote portions of the refuge, where they rarely encounter humans, apart from the occasional fisherman or kayaker. He's seen them several times himself in the refuge but says it's a fairly rare occurrence.

"We do know we have them here," Cooley said. "We have found nests on the refuge and we've heard reports of them elsewhere along the Tennessee River.

"There are reports of them near Guntersville, so that's a pretty large area of the Tennessee River that's had reports of them."

Cooley said larger, mature alligators have enough body mass to survive the colder winters, but the newly-hatched ones likely die off most years. He said it might take a few mild winters in a row to have significant numbers of young gators reach adulthood.

So far, Cooley said, the gators have not caused issues for human visitors. Wildlife officials are sometimes called to trap and remove alligators that settle in on people's property off the refuge, but by and large Cooley said they have not presented a problem.

"We've gotten no reports of them taking pets or anything," he said. "There doesn't seem to be any incidents of interaction between gators and humans in the Tennessee Valley."

Not in my backyard

The thinking when the alligators were released into the refuge is that extending the range of the endangered animal would help protect the species in case there was large-scale disruption of its more natural habitat in Louisiana.

There was also some thought at the time that having active gators might help control the beaver population, but that seems to have been a side benefit and not the reason for the introduction.

Nine other wildlife refuges across the country also had alligators introduced at around the same time in an attempt to extend the range of the species.

Not surprisingly though, the release proved to be very unpopular with north Alabama residents. Those living near the refuge did not want to worry about 10-foot gators wandering into their back yards or encountering them during a fishing or canoe trip.

The push-back against Wheeler taking in the gator refugees, led by then-U.S. Rep. Ronnie Flippo of Florence, was successful. A short time after the gators were set loose in the refuge, wildlife officers were sent back to round them up again and move them somewhere else.

The effort was not very successful. According to The Huntsville Times archives, fewer than 10 of the 56 alligators were removed from the refuge. One report pins the figure at just three gators removed after a three-week effort.