ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. -- If a gator is threatening your family, you can't kill it yourself. It's a felony punishable by up to five years in prison. Instead, you have to call a licensed trapper.

These days, trappers said, their phones are ringing off the hook. Trappers said a big problem is it has been so dry. Alligators are coming up out of lakes and looking for deeper water, and sometimes running into humans.

For the most part, Olga Irizarry likes life on a lake, but there's just one problem.

"I'm really scared," she said.

There's an alligator living in the water. It has been fed by neighbors and isn't scared of people.

"I want him out of here. I want him to go away," she said.

But because the gator is short of four feet, the state won't remove it. Officials concede, smaller gators can bite, but they're more worried about the bigger gators that can kill.

"This is mating season. This is the time of the year when it really gets busy," said trapper Jerry Flynn.

Flynn is one a few dozen trappers licensed by the state. With giant reels and hooks he caught 55 of the big reptiles this month alone. He's busier this year than ever.

"With the water as low as it is, they really don't have enough room to get back out in the swamps and the slews," Flynn said.

Flynn doesn't get paid to kill the gators, but he can sell the hide and meat. He usually gets between $4 and $10 per pound. He can only trap a gator if it is a nuisance. The rest have to stay in the water.

Irizarry said something better be done soon about her gator. If not, neighbors may take matters into their own hands.

"I guess we're gonna have to do something, if they don't do anything," she said.

Because they are a protected species, it is illegal to kill an alligator unless you have a special permit. The Fish and Wildlife gator hotline (866-FWC-GATOR) is swamped, though, and they will only respond if the reptile is larger than four feet and is a nuisance.