SUN CHRONICLE (Attleboro, Massachusetts) 29 July 06 See you later, alligator (Michael Gelbwasser)
Attleboro : Three men fishing near the Water Street bridge called for Gator aid on a hot Friday morning.
They caught a baby American alligator, the first gator collar in Attleboro in recent memory, Animal Control Officer Kathy Pereira said. Previously, alligators have been reported in the city, but not snared.
Norwood resident Steve Flaherty did a double-take when he spotted the critter.
`` I'm looking, about a foot away from me, I'm talking to my girlfriend (on the cell phone) at the time, and I said, `You won't believe what I'm looking at,'' he said. `` I thought it was a crocodile, frankly.''
Flaherty and Attleboro residents Howard Angevine and Dan Gallery had been fishing in kayaks in the Ten Mile River near the bridge for almost three hours when Flaherty suddenly called out for a net.
They didn't have one, so Angevine jumped in the drink and chased the alligator for 10 minutes before grabbing its tail.
The reptile bit one of his fingers, drawing blood. Angevine then put the gator in his kayak and `` put him in my shirt to keep him clean.''
He said he never thought twice about chasing the creature.
Angevine said his family owned Attleboro Aquarium in the 1970s, and now owns a pet shop in Rhode Island.
`` I've been doing this since I was a baby,'' he said.
Otherwise, he said it wasn't a particularly productive fishing day.
`` Everybody caught bass except for me,'' Angevine said. `` I caught the gator.''
The fishermen called Pereira, who said she was unsure at first who to contact because alligators have rarely been caught in Attleboro.
The Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife recommended that she call Rainforest Reptile Shows, an educational and environmental firm in Beverly.
Pereira said she wrapped the alligator in a towel that she had wet with bottled water, to keep it from dehydrating.
Rainforest Reptile officials are expected to pick up the baby alligator today.
Pereira said she is unsure how the alligator got into the river.
Rhode Island pet shops sell them, she said, but they usually wear bands, and the one found in Attleboro did not.
`` All I can say is, somebody probably got sick of it,'' Pereira said.
See you later, alligator