Police in Loretto, Tennessee, have sparked a viral sensation with a humorous Facebook post warning that flushing drugs could create 'meth-gators'. The post, which followed the arrest of a suspect trying to flush liquid methamphetamine, cautioned residents not to dispose of drugs down the toilet, jokingly suggesting it might lead to hyper-aggressive alligators downstream in Alabama.
The post referenced a recent 'meth-fuelled attack squirrel' case in Alabama, where a man was accused of keeping a drug-addicted squirrel. Police noted there was no safe way to test the squirrel for methamphetamine, so it was released into the woods. The squirrel's owner denied feeding it drugs to make it more aggressive.
Loretto Mayor Jesse Turner confirmed the post was intended as a joke, but said the humour may have been lost on outsiders. 'People pay more attention when they know there is a little humour,' he said. The town of 1,700 people is reportedly 'in on the joke'.
Biologists, however, have dismissed the idea of 'meth-gators' as unrealistic. Dr Robert A Thomas, director of Loyola University's Center for Environmental Communication, noted that the amount of methamphetamine needed to affect an alligator would be staggering, and that their watery habitat would dilute any drug. 'They can live through - it seems - almost anything,' he said.
The Loretto police emphasised that proper drug disposal is important, and that prescription pills can be dropped off at city hall. The issue of toxins in marine life is real, with cocaine having been found in freshwater shrimps in the UK. But the 'meth-gator' myth, while entertaining, remains just that.
