The water is usually calm at Lake Sinclair, but online rumors are running wild, saying that the Georgia Department of Natural Resources is sponsoring an alligator hunt at Lake Sinclair in Milledgeville.
But wildlife biologist Bobby Bond says that's false.
"We have currently in the state of Georgia, in about half of it, we have ten different hunt zones," Bond says. "Areas of the state where we have quotas set up where people can go alligator hunting. We base those quotas based on how many bodies of water are within that zone. We do two gator surveys per zone to track the population, and that's how we set the quotas for those areas."
But Lake Sinclair is not one of those hunt zones, and Bond says the pictures circulating along with those rumors don't even feature an alligator from Lake Sinclair.
"That's actually from Chattahoochee County," Bond says. "We actually have a person working for us that knows the person who harvested that alligator."
Just because there's no alligator hunt, it doesn't mean there are no alligators at Lake Sinclair.
"We have had a couple of confirmed reports of smaller alligators on that lake," Bond says.
Bond says there have been no reports of aggressive alligators or injuries caused by alligators at Lake Sinclair. So if you're out on the lake over the holiday weekend, Bond says it's safe.
"Still go swim, if you do see an alligator, don't swim in that spot, just go to another spot," Bond says.
Bond says as far as he knows, there has never been an alligator-related death in Georgia, but if you see an alligator when you're out on the lake, don't approach it.
"Don't feed the alligators," Bond says. "A lot of issues come about from habituation of gators, when they're being fed in certain locations, so if you see an alligator at a water body, move away from it, stay away from it, and leave it alone."
If you do see an aggressive alligator, or if there is an alligator on private property, you can call the Department of Natural Resources in Fort Valley at 478-825-1018.