COUPLE CAUGHT AT EGLIN WMA

Officer Jones was on patrol in the early morning on the Eglin Wildlife Management Area and found a fresh set of vehicle tracks going through a closed range gate and into an area closed to public access.

He followed the tracks to an area where he saw flashlights working off in the distance. He followed the lights on foot and found a man and a woman standing near a parked vehicle.

The two subjects were in possession of hundreds of spent brass ammunition shell casings.

They were charged with numerous violations including entering a closed area, entering Eglin property during closed hours, having no Eglin permit and theft.

The male subject was also charged with resisting arrest without violence.

BOAT BECOMES LITTER

Officer Jernigan concluded an investigation on a boat found abandoned in the Blackwater WMA. He contacted the last registered owner, who referred him to another man to whom he gave the boat.

The officer finally contacted a subject who admitted to finding the boat in what appeared to be an abandoned state. He took the boat but later thought that it might have been stolen, so he hauled it to the nearby forest where he disposed of it.

The man was charged with littering; the boat was returned to the registered owner.

KEEPING ALLIGATOR WITHOUT PERMIT

Officer Hutchinson received information about a man who had a small alligator as a pet at his residence. The subject lacked proper permits to possess the alligator and the officer found that the man was keeping the alligator inside an aquarium.

The man admitted to catching the alligator in Yellow River at the end of the 2016 alligator hunting season. He said he caught two small alligators and took them home, but one later died. He kept the other one as a pet.

The alligator was seized and the man was charged with possession of an alligator without a permit.

In other FWC business:

SEARCH CALLED OFF

Lieutenant Berryman and Officers Hoomes, Roberson and Cushing responded to a request from the U.S. Coast Guard of a reported distress call from a vessel somewhere in East Bay/Blackwater Bay.

After searching the area for three hours in rough seas and inclement weather, the search was called off due to lack of additional information on the vessel’s possible location.

SHARING WILDLIFE EDUCATION

Officer Hutchinson helped coordinate an after-school function for S.S. Dixon Elementary School. The event’s theme was camping, fishing and nature.

FWC Wildlife Biologist Almario, Wildlife Technician Jernigan and Officer Hutchinson set up a display that involved wildlife identification games.

They answered many questions and interacted with students and their parents. Approximately 300 people attended the event.

This article originally appeared on Santa Rosa Press Gazette: Boat littering, illegal alligator adoption among FWC violations