Alligator Habitat Loss WJBF (Newhouse PKG)

07/27/22
TRT: 1:39
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CLIMATE CHANGE HAS NOT ONLY POSED A THREAT TO PEOPLE BUT
ALSO…ALLIGATORS. REPORTER ADRIANA LOH IS IN WASHINGTON DC TO TELL US
HOW THE WARMER TEMPERATURES ARE PUSHING THESE REPTILES CLOSER TO
HOME.
(TAKE PKG) (TRT: 1:39)
(TAKE SOT: :12-:30)
Jason Clark/ Alligator Trapper: “I don't remember seeing alligators when I was a kid.”
ADRIANA/VO: GEORGIA IS ONE OF THE TOP TEN STATES ALLIGATORS GET TO CALL
HOME, AND THE LAST PLACE YOU WOULD EXPECT TO SEE THEM IS IN YOUR OWN
BACKYARD.
(NAT SOUND: ALLIGATOR VIDEO:03)
(TAKE SOT: :13-:16)
Jason Clark/ Alligator Trapper: “We've got a quarter million gators in the wild here in
Georgia.”
ADRIANA/VO: LICENSED ALLIGATOR TRAPPER JASON CLARK OF SOUTHEASTERN
REPTILE RESCUE HAS ENCOUNTERED THESE UNWANTED NEIGHBORS
ALL…TOO…OFTEN…
(TAKE SOT: :40-:27)
Jason Clark/ Alligator Trapper: “I actually use those as kind of teaching moments to explain to
people. People say, well, you holding that gator, does it bite? The answer is it's an alligator. But
they're they're not they're not the bloodthirsty creatures that people make out.”
ADRIANA/VO: DESPITE ITS INTIMIDATING LOOK FROM ITS SCALEY LONG TAIL TO ITS
SHARP TEETH…THE REAL THREAT FOUND HERE IS CLIMATE CHANGE.
(STAND UP: :48-:56)
ALLIGATORS CAN BE TYPICALLY FOUND IN FRESHWATER. AS THE GLOBAL
TEMPERATURE RISE.. SO DOES OUR SEA LEVELS WHICH HAS POSED A THREAT TO
THEIR HABITAT.
(TAKE SOT: :56-1:09)
Ben Prater/ Director of Defenders of Wildlife: “For a while they may have had an excellent
freshwater wetland or protected river system. They now may have to go to, you know, a
manmade pond or drainage ditch or golf course to provide to find habitat they need to survive.”
ADRIANA/VO: DIRECTOR BEN PRATER’S ORGANIZATION, DEFENDERS OF WILDLIFE,
HOPE TO EDUCATE THE HARSH IMPACT OF CLIMATE CHANGE.
(TAKE SOT: 1:14-1:25)
Ben Prater/ Director of Defenders of Wildlife: “Changing climate at the rate at which it's being
observed to be changing now is an existential threat to our society and to the natural world.”
ADRIANA/VO: MOVING FORWARD SOUTHEASTERN REPTILE RESCUE AND
DEFENDERS OF WILDLIFE HOPE CONSUMERS MAKE MORE CONSCIOUS DECISIONS
THAT CONTRIBUTE TO CLIMATE CHANGE TO HELP OUR FRIENDLY FOE.
REPORTING IN WASHINGTON D-C, ADRIANA LOH, WJBF NEWS CHANNEL 6.