Is This Florida? 7-Foot Gator Spotted, Captured In American River

When I worked as a sports reporter at the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, one of beats was covering the University of Arkansas baseball team. When I traveled to cover a series against the University of Florida in Gainesville, after the last game of the series and I had sent my story, I headed to the part of the UF campus that had a small but beautiful lake. Florida’s nickname is the Gators, so it’s only natural that there would be alligators within Lake Alice right on campus.

Here is my proof from that experience!

Of course that was Florida, so you see ‘gators there like you’ll find squirrels at your local park. So via ABC 10 in Sacramento, would you believe there was an alligator spotted and captured in the American River in Sacramento County? Here’s some video:

And a few more details from the station’s report:

“He said, ‘I’m trying to help my neighbor out.’ He was fishing at Sailor Bar and he noticed that there was an alligator sitting on the rocks. He said, ‘So I went over there with my trailer. I saw the alligator. It was hissing and I jumped on the alligator, taped it’s mouth shut and put it in my trailer,'” said Sandra Foreman, the facility manager at the Wildlife Care Association. 

Foreman doesn’t believe the alligator has been living in the American River for a long time.  

She says the cold water would have made it difficult to survive, and she believes someone kept the reptile as a pet and dumped it when it got too big to handle.  

However, that’s for the Department of Fish and Wildlife to decide. The agency has the animal in their care, and will now figure out where it came from.