Out Here | Everglades National Park, Fla.: The Governor Likes Alligators in Only One Size

Gov. Rick Scott was praising Florida’s many outdoor pleasures — fishing, hunting, bird-watching — when he let slip that he did not have much fondness for alligators.

“I don’t want to be close to them that much,” Mr. Scott said during a recent visit to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. In fact, he said he would be “receptive” to putting a bullet in a gator if someone believed that it might help promote the state’s tourism.

The governor’s swat at the Sunshine State’s unofficial tourism symbol surprised rangers at Everglades National Park, who lead tours on the Anhinga Trail for its 800,000 annual visitors, most of whom relish the chance to get very close to alligators.

“Gators are native,” said Charlie Arazoza, a volunteer ranger and chairman of the South Florida National Parks Trust, a fund-raising group. “If you want to indiscriminately kill some reptiles, let’s focus on exotics, like Burmese pythons. We’re already hunting them.”

The Anhinga Trail is actually a winding boardwalk that provides a somewhat safe distance from the dozens of alligators sunning themselves and hunting.

Visitors can get even closer to an eight-foot alligator now residing in a stand of soaring cypress trees. Rangers lead people out through the tall saw grass into the “Movie Dome,” where many films have been shot, to commune with the gator. On a recent afternoon, he was napping on the edge of a cool pond (a drought has made cool, wet places difficult to find).

“He came in and muscled out all the smaller ones,” Mr. Arazoza said.

A few skittish visitors were not sure if it was smart to stand 10 yards from a big alligator. “Don’t worry — you’re not really in danger,” he assured them. “Gators don’t like to use a lot of energy.”

This might be news to Mr. Scott, who gets close to a gator only when he slips on gold-embossed, custom-made “governor” boots, made of alligator skin.

DON VAN NATTA JR.