Proponents and opponents of global warming have a running battle. Proponents say I told you so and point to these brutal temperatures across the U.S. of late. The naysayers scoff. They like to point out that glaciers once covered much of the northern U.S., but those glaciers melted 10,000 years ago. They snicker and say that obviously can’t be blamed on pooting cows, spray deodorant and freon.

When the global warming argument begins, I tuck tail and run. I choose to stay out of arguments in which no matter what evidence is presented, both sides are going to believe what they want to believe. I put arguments about UFOs and mountain lions in Alabama in the same category.

I did make an exception to my rule the other day. When someone suggested that global warming might be the culprit in Alabama alligators expanding their range north into Huntsville, the history teacher in me couldn’t bite my tongue.

It is true that reports of alligators in Huntsville neighborhoods have become frequent of late. It is also true, however, that gators in those same areas is old news. Let’s leave global warming out of this one and ask ourselves a question. Is it alligators that are expanding their range in the Rocket City, or is it humans?

First, a history lesson. It is well known that about 50 alligators were released in the 1970s into the Wheeler National Wildlife Refuge between Huntsville and Decatur. There are those who say there is evidence alligators lived in the area much earlier than that, however. Jud Easterwood, a Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries biologist in north Alabama, says there are historical accounts of alligators in the area in the late 1800s.

It is important to understand that it is the City of Huntsville’s range, and not the alligator’s range, that is expanding. In short, the housing boom in the Huntsville/Decatur/Madison area is moving people into the alligators’ neighborhoods, not vice-versa. Builders are literally building subdivisions in swamps, Easterwood said. It has reached the point that the City of Huntsville has begun erecting caution signs in areas that are suitable alligator habitat.