VALLEY MORNING STAR (Texas) 20 September 13 Gator Crossing: Officials euthanize roaming reptile (Kayleigh Sommer)
San Benito: A 10-foot-long alligator that was seen crossing a rural road near here Thursday was euthanized by game wardens after they determined it was too large and aggressive to be relocated.
Texas Parks and Wildlife game wardens and the Cameron County Sheriff’s Department responded to a call Thursday from an unidentified person saying an alligator was crossing the road.
A driver spotted the alligator half a mile west of FM 803 and State Highway 100, between San Benito and Los Fresnos, Game Warden Capt. Fernando Cervantes said.
When the officers found it, the alligator was in the process of trying to climb a fence.
The recent wet weather may have driven the reptile from its habitat.
Clint Guadiana, supervisor for reptiles and amphibians at the Gladys Porter Zoo in Brownsville, said that when there’s a lot of rain, alligators start moving around. While the rain can bring relief from the prolonged dry conditions, it’s also possible that the alligator was looking for a new place to live.
Older alligators are sometimes driven from their territories by younger alligators who want to establish a territory, Guadiana said.
The 10-foot-long alligator weighed about 500 pounds, Cervantes said. It took five men from the sheriff’s department and game wardens to subdue it and hoist it into a transport vehicle.
Cervantes said the animal struggled and thrashed and knocked out a head light on a truck while the men were trying to load it.
The animal’s aggressive nature made it almost impossible to subdue, Cervantes said, resulting in the decision to euthanize it.
“I couldn’t put my men or anyone else at risk of injury or worse,” he said.
He also said that the alligator could not be relocated to any of the wildlife refuges because it exceeded the maximum size the refuges will accept.
While alligators aren’t normally aggressive, they will become aggressive towards humans when provoked or when other animals are in the same space, Guadiana said.
Texas Parks and Wildlife classified this alligator as a nuisance, one that is a threat to humans, pets, livestock or health and safety.
In these instances the call to put down the animal is made by their main office in Austin, and the animal is disposed of in the most humane way, Cervantes said.
While the game wardens have the authority to determine the animal’s fate, the zoo would have liked to have been notified, Guardiana said. Under some circumstances, it might be able to accept the alligator or find another home for it.
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