"It could have happened to anyone." Mom shares photos of son in spot where gator killed

[Journeyman]

11. The only time I've been in Florida, the mobile home park I was in had a lake in the middle. . . .

I knew Florida has alligators. And I know they can be aggressive. But we were in a park just outside Palm Beach, with a lake that appeared to be man made, with no visible connection to outside waters. But unknown to us, there were 'gators in the water. They swam in through hidden channels that connected the park with local streams, or they simply walked in. My wife and I loved to take bike rides through the park in the early morning. We'd been there a few days before we noticed an alligator resting on the pathway, half in the water. It was then we learned the 'gators were known to lie in wait and drag unsuspecting dogs and cats into the depths.

For that matter, I'd lived in my present home in suburban Los Angeles some 25 years before I learned coyotes live in close proximity and had begun to kill local pets, being so brazen as to attack while the dogs were out for walks in the local parks. I knew there were coyotes and mountain lions in the local hills, but I'm 15 miles from the closest area I'd previously associated with being these animal's hunting grounds.

Truly, and especially when we are in new lands, we only expect the dangers we would normally associate with the terrain we see.