Game wardens scrambled earlier today, wrestling with an alligator in a Port Aransas drainage ditch.
According to Port Aransas resident Jamie Gautreaux reported that a girl jogging along State Highway 361 at about 11 a.m. today spotted an alligator in a ditch behind the Dollar General Store.
Four game wardens, the Port Aransas police chief, two police officers, the constable, the fire department and Port Aransas EMS responded to the call. They snatched the 12-foot alligator from the ditch and onto the parking lot of the Plantation Suites in the 1900 block of State Highway 361. Port Aransas Police Chief Scott Burroughs says the alligator was frightened when they pulled it from the waterway but then calmed down.
Once there, wardens and officers wrestled with the alligator. Eventually, they loaded it onto a slide-back wrecker.
Gautreaux lives across the street and saw everyone going out to the area. When she noticed what was going on, she went live on Facebook. Within an hour of the video being posted, at least 1,200 people have viewed her video.
The alligator was taken to Charlie’s Pasture, a nature preserve by the bay.
Burroughs believes the alligator may have come from that preserve.
The chief warns if residents come in contact with a gator, call 911 immediately.
“They’re wild animals,” Burroughs said. “As interesting as they are to look at, they can be dangerous. They’re very fast on land and in the water. The best thing to do is let the experts handle them.”
