Northwest Montana is known far and wide for its wildlife, especially its predators.

Gator grousing has been overblown

Grizzly bears, black bears, gray wolves, mountain lions, wolverines - and now alligators.

Yes, alligators.

Or at least one alligator that was found in a place in Kalispell where it shouldn't have been. It ended up dead and a cause celebre on the Internet.

It wasn't so much the alligator itself that became so noteworthy, but rather the public response when the 5-foot long, 60-pound reptile was found in a children's fishing pond.

Did people immediately call the sheriff's office or fish-and-game officials to deal with an animal that had no place in the Shady Lane fishing pond?

No.

A growing crowd hooked it with fishing lures, shot it with an arrow, wrapped its mouth shut with fishing line, tried to slit its throat - and who knows what else. In short, the gator was pretty much tortured before a sheriff's deputy finally was called and mercifully shot the creature.

That was six hours after the roaming reptile first was spotted.

Then the tale of the alligator incident exploded on the Internet, prompting a flood of outraged e-mails, phone calls and letters to the editor from across the country.

It was not exactly a positive picture that was painted by these righteous writers, who decided the Flathead must be full of "Deliverance" refugees bent on mistreating animals.

This bizarre tale of an alligator rodeo prompts a few responses:

To those nonresidents who say they will never visit here because of the alligator treatment: Stay home. If this is all that you base your vacation plans on, then perhaps you wouldn't appreciate the natural wonders here that attract 2 million people a year.

To all those who participated in or watched the abuse of the alligator (without thinking to call authorities): Shame on you. All it would have taken is one responsible person to make a phone call and the whole sordid situation would never have unfolded.

To the alligator owner (who said the gator got out of its pen when he was out of town): Thanks for coming forward and taking responsibility. But what are you doing raising an alligator 100 yards from a kids' fishing pond?

To those who vented so emotionally over animal mistreatment: We don't condone animal cruelty, either, but where are these voices of outrage when it comes to people abusing people? When a man shoots his wife in the back, or another man holds a circular saw to his wife's face (both happened recently in the Flathead Valley), we hear hardly any public reaction. Why does a reptile rise to such prominence when domestic violence is an everyday horror for many?

To people in the Flathead Valley: Let's do better next time.