No barriers. There are signs warning not to feed or approach the gators. There are slightly elevated walking trails and boardwalks. But, the trails are not high enough to deter a gator. I know they sometimes come up on the trails but I haven’t seen that. The gators we saw were on the shoreline, usually about 6 or more yards from us. The gators were sunning. The water is still cool and they’re cold-blooded animals so they need to warm up. When I’ve been there during warmer months, I’ve only seen gators in the water. The signs warn that if a gator is on the trail, turn around. Basic common sense.

Gators don’t want to eat humans. We are too much work and gators are lazy creatures. All those gators live in a wetlands teeming with the foods they do like and can kill easily. They like easy. Why would they bother with humans?

Nearly every attack on a human by gator takes place in the water. The human enters the gator’s territory and the gator defends his territory. Solution: don’t swim with gators. If a gator attacks on land, the victim is usually a child. Gators have horrendous eyesight. They can easily confuse a small child with a prey animal. Solution: don’t let your kids walk near or play in waters where gators live.

The other most common gator attack on humans is when a human is walking their dog near a lake or river and the gator grabs the dog and the human tries to fight off the gator and gets attacked/injured/killed. Solution: don’t walk your dog near water where gators live.

Yes, they are dangerous animals but, as is often the case, a little common sense is your best protection.