WOAI (San Antonio, Texas) 06 July 07 Game Warden Shoots 9-Foot Alligator (Maritza Nunez)
It is not something you see everyday -- an alligator in the middle of the road. But that’s exactly what people driving near Loop 410 and Pleasanton on the south side saw late Wednesday.
The gator stopped traffic and started hissing, so game wardens shot and killed him on the spot. They say it was being aggressive and had clearly lost all fear of human beings. They said that could be dangerous for any people in the area. The gator will be buried. Not everyone was happy with the decision to put down the animal.
"That's animal cruelty," said Nathan Garcia. "They should have put him in a safe place. There (are) a lot of dangerous animals out there and they put them in safe places." Other felt differently.
"When something like this comes out, you gotta take care of business," said Pete Benavides. "I'm sure they did what they had to do."
It all started when a family came home from the movies Wednesday and saw another car pulled over on the side of the road. The car had its hazard lights on. The family stopped to find out what was wrong. That was when they noticed the alligator in the middle of the street. With so much rain lately, the gator likely moved from a nearby creek to the street. Game wardens suspect it was the same alligator that crawled onto Loop 410 back in April. That time, the animal was put back in the nearby lake.
“I was really surprised that they let it loose the first time," said Benavides. "I was surprised, shocked, surprised that it even came back out."
Game Warden Shoots 9-Foot Alligator