The small coastal town of Pass Christian lost a beloved resident on Christmas Day, but his passing resonates anywhere there is love for the natural world, its remarkable creatures and concerns over modern society’s relationship with the wild.
Chomper, an American alligator, passed away at the ripe old age of 64 on the grounds of Pine Hills Nursery, the only home he had ever known. For decades, Chomper was an attraction, especially among children.
The life expectancy of an alligator is 50 years, so Chomper’s longevity is noteworthy not merely as a number, but as evidence of a healthy, happy life.
Chomper’s story began in 1958 when Billy Cuevas discovered a nest of 21 alligator hatchlings on the banks of the Jourdan River and brought them home to his property, which became a nursery in 1986 that is now owned by Cuevas’s granddaughter, Rachel Bond.
Chomper was just six inches long when Cuevas found him. He grew to be 11 feet long and weigh between 800 and 900 pounds.
For some time now, the ethics of keeping wild animals in captivity have been questioned, especially when they are kept primarily for entertainment. While zoos, animal reserves and sanctuaries play key roles in understanding such animals, preserving their populations or offering a humane environment for abused animals (Our own Cedarhill Animal Sanctuary in Lowndes County comes immediately to mind), the practice of keeping wild animals as a road-side attraction is mercifully falling out of favor.
That was not the fate of Chomper, even though he lived in an enclosure on the Cuevas/Bond property his entire life.
Cuevas erected the enclosure around his baby gators to keep them safe at their most vulnerable time, not to keep them captive. He knew the alligators, being territorial and innately driven to find their own turf, would someday burrow under the enclosure and head out to parts unknown.
That’s just what happened, too. One by one Chomper’s siblings slipped away. Only Chomper, not being an adventuresome alligator, stuck around.
“He could have dug his way out but he never did,” Bond told The Sun Herald newspaper. “He got out on a few occasions but just stayed right in the yard and then went back to his pen.”
Over the course of his long life, Chomper developed a reputation as a notorious napper and a serious sun-bather, just active enough to hold a visiting child’s attention.
He was chill before it was a term.
“We always knew when he was hungry because if my grandpa would go up and rattle the fence he would come to him when he wanted to eat,” Bond said. “Otherwise he would just lay there.”
Alligators have developed a bad reputation. It’s true they are predators — feeding mainly on fish and small mammals — but they are also opportunists who never turn down an easy meal. There have been reports of alligators attacking humans, but those cases are rare.
Today, alligators are legally hunted in Mississippi for the purpose of population control.
Intellectually, I understand the role hunting plays in maintaining a healthy population of certain species, but on another level, it seems almost sinful. I’m sure glad Chomper didn’t end up being some hunter’s obscene trophy.
To see a deer or an alligator or any number of animals in their native habitat inspires in me appreciation not malice.
In his poem “Snake,” E.E. Cummings captured that sentiment.
Surprised and frightened by the appearance of a snake at his water-trough, Cummings wrote, “He must be killed” and threw a log at the snake, scaring it away.
“And immediately I regretted it.
I thought how paltry, how vulgar, what a mean act!
I despised myself and the voices of my accursed human education.
And I thought of the albatross
And I wished he would come back, my snake.
For he seemed to me again like a king,
Like a king in exile, uncrowned in the underworld,
Now due to be crowned again.
And so, I missed my chance with one of the lords
Of life.
And I have something to expiate:
A pettiness.”
I am grateful that Chomper lived a long, happy and, yes, free life.
His story affirms that we can live in harmony with the wild things of nature.
RIP, Chomper, and thanks for reminding us of that.
Slim Smith is a columnist and feature writer for The Dispatch. His email address is [email protected].
Slim Smith is a columnist and feature writer for The Dispatch. His email address is [email protected].
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