Fact or Urban Legend: Gators in New York Sewers and Meth Gators in Tennessee?

[Ax01]

i don't think anyone should be doing meth or dumping their drugs anywhere that can reach and impact the environment and animals but i don't think that diluted toilet water meth can get a gator high on ice. can it? b/c Tennessee police are warning their residents not to do so for fear of hyper-aggressive Alligators tweaking on meth. i doubt it tho. (well maybe unless it was Blue Sky)

story and vid here: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/...et/1740780001/

Methed-up gators and ducks and geese: Tennessee police warn against flushing drugs down the toilet
Pray to never encounter a "meth-gator": an alligator on methamphetamine.

One Tennessee police department is urging residents not to flush drugs down the toilet, citing fears that wildlife might consume them and exhibit unnatural behaviors.

"Ducks, Geese, and other fowl frequent our treatment ponds and we shudder to think what one all hyped up on meth would do," the Loretto Police Department posted Saturday on Facebook. "Furthermore, if it made it far enough we could create meth-gators in Shoal Creek and the Tennessee River down in North Alabama."

Some social media users immediately latched on to prospect of methed-up gators.

"This should be the new mascot for a university down there," one user tweeted. "Think of how terrifying it would be to play the South Alabama Meth Gators."

"TONIGHT!! Live at THE NICK!!! METH GATORRRRR!!!!" another user joked.

The effects of methamphetamine on alligators is unknown. Loretto police did not note any recent documented cases of alligators consuming meth, but took a dig at Alabama's "attack squirrel" case.

Last month, Alabama authorities arrested a man who allegedly fed meth to a pet squirrel named Deeznutz and trained it to attack people. Authorities said they could not conduct a drug test on it, however.

A jungle python in Australia reportedly required six weeks of detoxification after absorbing meth through its skin in a lab. The python behaved more aggressively and erratically, a senior overseer at the John Morony correctional complex told The Telegraph.

Dogs fed meth can suffer from seizures, diarrhea and extreme agitation, according to a study published in the BMC Veterinary Research journal.

Researchers have also found freshwater shrimp with traces of cocaine in the United Kingdom, according to a University of Suffolk study. Professors cited concerns about the environmental consequences of such pollution.

In Tennessee, police noted sanitation workers are not prepared to clean out meth from sewage before sending it to retention ponds or eventually downstream to Alabama's alligator habitats.

and here: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news...ators-n1030291

'Meth-gators': Tennessee police warn flushing drugs could create hyper-aggressive alligators"Folks … please don’t flush your drugs m’kay," the Loretto Police Department wrote in a Facebook post.

A police department in Loretto, Tennessee, is asking residents to refrain from flushing drugs, such as methamphetamine, down the toilet to prevent "meth-gators."

In the Facebook post, the Loretto Police Department wrote that on Saturday, officers executed a search warrant on a home and discovered the occupant trying to flush meth and drug paraphernalia down his toilet.

Although the suspect was unsuccessful, the officers used the incident to remind residents of the harm drugs can cause to the environment.

"Folks … please don’t flush your drugs m’kay ... our sewer guys take great pride in releasing water that is cleaner than what is in the creek, but they are not really prepared for meth," the post read. "Ducks, Geese, and other fowl frequent our treatment ponds and we shudder to think what one all hyped up on meth would do."

The post warns that meth could make its way into Shoal Creek, down the Tennessee River in North Alabama and into the bodies of alligators.

"Furthermore, if it made it far enough we could create meth-gators in Shoal Creek and the Tennessee River down in North Alabama," police wrote. "They’ve had enough methed up animals the past few weeks without our help. So, if you need to dispose of your drugs just give us a call and we will make sure they are disposed of in the proper way."

But Kent Vliet, an alligator biologist and the coordinator of laboratories in the department of biology at the University of Florida, said he has never once heard of an alligator on meth.

"I've worked with alligators for 40 years, and I generally can answer any question someone gives me about them. This one's throwing me for a loop," Vliet told NBC News.

Vliet, who is not a veterinarian, said in a study he participated in, in which gators were dosed with antibiotics, the animals had to be injected with the medication, rather than orally fed the drug, to see a sustained effect.

"I would guess they might be affected by it, but they tend to not react to drugs in the same way we do, and I don’t know if it would take a little or a lot to get an alligator to do something on meth," Vliet said. "I think it’s a ridiculous notion. If you flush meth its going to be diluted."

Vliet added that people who are not familiar with gators tend to over-exaggerate their dangers, adding that the reptile does not seek out humans to harm or eat.

The Facebook post's mention of "methed up animals" in Alabama may have been a reference to a caged "attack squirrel" who was believed to have been given methamphetamine to keep it aggressive.

The alleged methed-up "attack squirrel" was discovered during the execution of a search warrant on a suspect believed to possess controlled substances.

However, officials in the area said there was no safe way to test the squirrel for meth.

and edit to add: the first story mentions authorities finding a Morelia getting high and becoming aggressive after absorbing meth via skin contact during a meth house bust in Australia. here's the story for that: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/201...ralian-prison/