DAILY NEWS (Jacksonville, N Carolina) 27 September 06 Gator takes a wrong turn (Kelley Chambers)
Photo at first URL below: Heavy lifting: A DOT crew removes a 475-pound alligator from the median on U.S. 17 near Dixon High School on Tuesday. (John Althouse)
A 12-foot alligator was struck and killed by a driver on U.S. 17 Monday night near Dixon High School, the state Department of Transportation said.
Workers with the DOT removed the 12-foot, 7-inch American alligator Tuesday morning. State wildlife officials said the alligator weighed around 475 pounds and was approximately 85 years old.
The identity of the driver was not known. The vehicle did not crash in connection to the accident and no other injuries were reported, the DOT reported.
N.C. Highway Patrol joined workers at the site Tuesday morning. Several commuters who spotted the dead alligator pulled over to get a peak. The carcass was taken to the Onslow County Landfill and buried.
“Alligators are an endangered species,” said Warren Wethington, Onslow County DOT maintenance engineer. “No individual can possess any part of an alligator, so that’s why we took it to the landfill.”
Wethington said it’s not uncommon for alligators to cross lanes of traffic as part of their seasonal migration.
“They do it at certain times of the year,” Wethington said. “I saw a 20-foot-long one doing the same thing in Carteret County.
American alligators thrive throughout the southeast and into Virginia, said Sgt. Charles Smith with N.C. Wildlife Resources.
While most stay near waterways such as rivers or creeks, they can journey virtually anywhere.
“All of Onslow County is alligator habitat, so this is not unusual,” Smith said. “For this alligator to be the size it was, it’s obviously been here a long time, and this is the first time we’ve known about it. That says something.”
Bumped up from endangered to threatened status a few years ago, alligators are still protected under the Endangered Species Act, Smith said.
Smith said the alligator was likely just staking out a better spot in its habitat.
“It was probably doing it for a reason,” Smith said. “To find more suitable habitat (perhaps).”

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