https://www.denverpost.com/2007/07/14/creature-shuts-down-loveland-pond/. “I hear he couldn’t get a cab,” one officer Tweeted. It is listed as a Weed of National Significance (WoNS). Back in 2014, a shopper at a Carlisle, Pennsylvania grocery store unwittingly released a pet alligator in the produce aisle. I've been wanting to but events keep getting in the way. School employees drove their guest down a hallway, where animal control then captured the gator without incident. Wildlife officers promptly relocated the critter. However, the pièce de résistance was an 8-foot alligator thrashing around inside the bathtub. The reptile enthusiast later faced misdemeanor charges for having illegally purchased the animal. Nevertheless, a young collar-wearing gator reared its scaly head at an Enfield bus stop in 2012. Press question mark to learn the rest of the keyboard shortcuts. South Florida is the only place you can find both animals in the wild. While alligators move very quickly in water, they are generally slow-moving on land. Unbeknownst to his neighbors, the alligator’s owner would let it out to roam around his backyard on occasion. From a Chicago airport to a British bathtub, here are a few of the weirdest spots where live alligators have turned up. Here's some info. “And he wasn’t thrilled with Uber either …”. The American alligator (Alligator mississippiensis) is also found in south Florida, among other places. There is little question that a grown alligator was documented only 5 miles from the Virginia border in 2011. At Toad Suck Lock and Dam in Conway one was locked through the lock back in 1999 by a co-worker of mine. Records for extreme southwest Indiana date back to the1800’s, but very few have been taken in the past decades. Locals lost their shit and an attempt was made to recapture them. The reptile captured last … This photo provided by Shaler Township Police shows a baby alligator has been found in the parking lot of a grocery store near Pittsburgh. Thinking fast, he alerted his colleagues and made sure that every single student was confined to the cafeteria. Still, at 7 a.m. one Monday morning, a science teacher spotted it ambling along in the parking lot. There is a population of them within a swamp near Glencoe, Ontario . A baby alligator has been found in the parking lot of a grocery store near Pittsburgh, making it the fourth alligator found in the city since May By … They were also spotted in the Wolf River this year. The status of the alligator snapping turtle in Indiana is uncertain. Alligator snappers were thought to have been completely eliminated (extirpated) from Indiana until one was found in 1991 near the White River in Morgan County. Recently, the Illinois Department of Natural Resources confirmed that a man in Lansing—a suburb of Chicago—had unlawfully kept an alligator in his basement for 26 years. about it: "Alligators and humans have shared marshes, swamps, rivers and lakes of the Gulf Coast and Southeastern United States for many centuries. So far, there have been no reports of anyone assaulting the reptile with a measuring tape. We’re happy to report that no humans or gators were hurt in the process. Ever couple years one has to be wrangled out of a retention pond or pool. They have been found as far up the Mississippi as Arkansas. Though the Administration owns 46,000 acres of land there, only 6000 are used for its space program. Jake Jackson of Mount Carmel, Illinois, shot it with an arrow in the White River. To say North Carolina's Lake Norman is the haunt of a monster or monsters is no understatement. A 7.5-foot alligator that was living in a Wake County pond was captured Monday, North Carolina officials say. “I saw something wave at me, and it was [an] alligator’s tail,” he told the press. An American alligator has been found wandering around a scout camp on the Australian south coast, leaving wildlife experts baffled as to how it arrived there. A licensed trapper was called in to help get rid of it. They can, however, move quickly for short distances. Nobody knows how a 7-foot alligator found its way onto the fenced-in campus of a Tampa magnet school. Still, when a two-foot alligator decided to jaywalk across 9th Avenue last July, people definitely took notice. Thanks to careless pet owners, the big reptiles are also causing trouble above and beyond the Mason-Dixon line. Considered an endangered species as recently as 1987, the American alligator has made a roaring comeback, with Florida alone now harboring 1.3 million. Instead of notifying the authorities, he spent an entire year feeding raw chicken to his backyard freeloader. Though I've eaten alligator in NoVA. Call it the mystery of the too-far-north … As he geared up for a meeting later that day, he spotted the intruder in his living room. When was that and where was it? Still, when a … The alligator uses its powerful tail to propel itself through water. But I have seen alligators and caimans available at pet stores, and every once in a while, someone releases a pet alligator into a river or lake in hopes that it will survive in the wild (I guess). However, a quick Google search didn't turn anything up about one being seen, but there is fear that they could move into VA in the near future. As the service progressed, a 6-foot-long alligator made itself right at home beneath his vehicle. They've been seen throughout the refuge, in Redstone Arsenal, and as far upstream Guntersville having somehow made it through or around the dam and locks. “We’ve got gators blocking doorways, hiding under cars, [and] climbing fences,” the island’s deputy refuge manager has said. Like all true crocodilians, the American crocodile is a quadruped, with four short, stocky legs; a long, powerful tail; and a scaly hide with rows of ossified scutes running down its back and tail. There is no evidence that alligator populations reproduce north of the fall line, and it is suspected that many of the alligators found well above the fall line may have been illegally relocated. “About one in ten survived,” the man noted. The behemoth proceeded to take a cat nap on one family’s porch before wandering off. Author: 11 Alive Staff and news source … But members of Vero Beach’s force were truly stunned to discover a live one at the bottom of a residential hot tub. An escaped alligator was found in a Petaluma couple's backyard Thursday night. I guess it can be considered a zoo but Colorado Gators Reptile Park has a ton of gators there too. In 2013, local deputies served a drug-related warrant at his home. Judging by snapshots that onlookers provided, the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries estimates that the creature was anywhere from 9 to 10 feet long. I got interested in this myself a year or so ago, and while I have yet to see any, I found multiple articles online about alligators being pulled out of Missouri ponds and lakes. Alligator weed is a potentially devastating weed that grows in water and on land, affecting both waterways and floodplain areas. His new roommate, a sizable male specimen, was driven outside by professional wranglers. According to the Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute, “the American alligator is found in the United States from North Carolina to … “The lady [on the line] said, ‘Are you sure?’ I said, ‘Yeah, I’m pretty sure it’s a gator,’” the man later recalled. North Carolina is the farthest north that alligators are found naturally, Vliet said. Shaler Township, Pa., Police Lt. Dave Banko says an employee found the 2-foot-long creature Friday, July 19, 2019 near a … Once the homeowner was arrested, he turned over all six animals to specialist officers. The players, understandably, kept their distance until animal control hauled their wannabe mascot away. The Chinese alligator (Alligator sinensis) is endemic to eastern China. It is one of two extant species in the genus Alligator within the family Alligatoridae; it is larger than the only other living alligator species, the Chinese alligator. It was the reptilian equivalent of moving into a five-star restaurant. Mandy Stokes, who shot dead the animal, has said the alligator was 24 – 28 years old, which was determined from an analysis of its leg bone. The creature was caught by an employee and returned to its owners in short order. Attention shoppers! Elsewhere in the Bayou State, another alligator made quite a scene on September 3, 2015. Alligator weed has extremely vigorous growth and great tolerance of normal control measures, which makes it a major threat to wetla… farthest north alligator has been found; science 3D Printed Gummies, A Labyrinth Made Of Salt, And Other Amazing Images Of The Week. Its owner claims that her three-year-old son must have stuffed the foot-long reptile into her purse at some point. Merritt Island also happens to be home to NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. Back in January 2016, the gator was spotted in the owner’s basement by an appliance repairman. American crocodile is a highly fecund species (38 clutch of eggs; fecundity over 20 after 15 years old) with a high adult survival rate and long life span. For the next hour, the woman delighted in showing Allie off to her fellow travelers—many of whom posted pictures on social media. Last July, a Port Charlotte, Florida-based minor league baseball team arrived at their home field to find a 10-foot alligator in the visitors' dugout. The Stokes alligator, which measured 15 feet and 9 inches long and weighed 1,011.5 pounds (~458.8 kg) is in display at the Mann Wildlife Learning Museum in Montgomery, Alabama. To distinguish the two, alligators have a more U-shaped snout while crocodiles have a more pointed or V-shaped one. They probably can be seen in southern Tennessee because they're in Wheeler Wildlife Refuge in north Alabama. We are a tad west of your mapped area and our county in NC borders VA. We have a peaceful co-existence with the gators as long as people don't do thoughtless things like trying to feed them. Turns out they like it here well enough and being a wildlife refuge, they're fairly protected. St. Tammany Parish? But every population boom has its side effects. South Carolina is the farthest I have seen one. Laplace? Pullen Pond also has Gators. The American alligator (Alligator mississippiensis), sometimes referred to colloquially as a gator or common alligator, is a large crocodilian reptile native to the Southeastern United States, with a small population in Mexico. Alligators have been in our area since at least 1996. Not surprisingly, the alligators on the island don’t discriminate between sanctuary land and NASA’s campus. I know Alligators are here in Oklahoma, but I've never seen one personally. Edit: Yep, they've been spotted in the Elk River in TN. Records for extreme southwest Indiana date back to the1800’s, but very few have been taken in the past decades. It was headed upstream. They're as far north as Kitty Hawk, NC now. I've lived in Hampton Roads for 4 years and haven't seen one and haven't heard anyone around here talk about seeing one before either. That day, residents of LaPlace, Louisiana witnessed an enormous adult crawl out of a local storm drain. There's a nature trail in the refuge that supposedly you can hear them doing their mating calls and you can take a boat into the inlets and find them sunning although they're pretty skittish. They were also spotted in the Wolf River this year, https://www.denverpost.com/2007/07/14/creature-shuts-down-loveland-pond/. That's just across the border from Mississippi. They also tend to complicate space-related activities. Although rare further north, the alligator snapping turtle has been found as far north as the southern tip of Ontario in Canada. Although they didn’t find any drugs, the man was written up for illegally owning an alligator without a permit. The Chinese alligator has been called the muddy dragon and also as the Yangtze alligator, as it inhabits the Yangtze River Valley and the surrounding area. Down in Florida, when a gator clambers into somebody’s swimming pool, most police deputies don’t even bat an eye. In the wild, alligator snappers have been found submerged at water temperatures ranging between 70 to 74 °F. Turns out they like it here well enough and being a wildlife refuge, they're fairly protected. It is full of Gators of all sizes. “He was pretty feisty,” the Deputy Inspector told reporters. Everything else has been set aside as a wildlife sanctuary. The dolphin had been spotted as far south as San Diego and as far north as Santa Cruz Island in … New comments cannot be posted and votes cannot be cast, More posts from the AskAnAmerican community, AskAnAmerican: Learn about America, straight from the mouth of Americans, Press J to jump to the feed. Apprehended by local authorities, it was given to a Massachusetts company that performs educational shows. Alligator snappers are native to the southeastern United States, though they have been known to range as far north as southeastern Iowa and western Illinois. ON A BUSY MANHATTAN STREET. No barriers. A 3-foot-long, collar-wearing alligator was found Sunday strolling down a street in Brockton, Mass. When one Brookeville resident dialed 911 and announced that an alligator was lounging in his backyard koi pond, he was met with skepticism. Milwaukee police responding to a loose animal call in the 3900 block of North Sherman Boulevard around 6:30 p.m. Thursday found a dead alligator. That's pretty crazy! “Rest in peace.”. The bold creature was apprehended by police officers of the 34th Precinct, who dropped him off at a nearby animal shelter. I am surprised how for north people are saying. Cookies help us deliver our Services. That's as close to VA as I can get you. I've never heard anything about Alligators in VA, but I also live in the mountains. A male alligator bellow is far louder than the vocalizations of the larger crocodile (Conant 1998). The status of the alligator snapping turtle in Indiana is uncertain. After busting into a suspected criminal’s home, law enforcement discovered illegal substances, four cobras, and a rattlesnake. The tastiest images from around the web. For the alligator, the United States placed it on the endangered species list in 1973. Despite the gator’s temperament, some of Manhattan’s finest couldn’t resist joking about it. An enormous alligator has been found by a group of hunters in the state of Georgia, likely setting a new record for the state. Far too many people have reported encounters with "It" over the years, for it, or them, to be anything other than something startlingly and highly unusual. An eight-foot-long alligator has been seen in recent days along the Chattahoochee River near Interstate 285. As far as I know he never locked through Lock 9 at Morrilton, but he could have walked around the Dam and gone further upstream. Some researchers believe the Chinese alligator may be the inspiration behind the dragon in Chinese folklore and mythology. Even the official, fully documented cases have been marching steadily north. Today, gators and humans cross paths at an alarming rate—and not just in the South. Earlier this year, something a lot scarier than the mailman came knocking on a mobile home door in Plant City, Florida. West Virginia has almost no regulations on alligator ownership– probably because most people have sense enough not to own one! Both the American Alligator and the American Crocodile have had extremely low populations in the past due to over hunting. There was an alligator in Loveland, CO awhile back. Security footage later revealed that he’d boarded Chi-Town’s Blue Line train that night with his owner. During a 2012 raid in Runcorn, Cheshire, police officers found way more than they’d bargained for. By using our Services or clicking I agree, you agree to our use of cookies. Alligator snappers were thought to have been completely eliminated (extirpated) from Indiana until one was found in 1991 near the White River in Morgan County. By the time officials from the nearest Sheriff’s Office arrived, the intruder had propped its snout and forelimbs against the door—about a foot below the handle. 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