WRTV (Indianapolis, Indiana) 14 October 13 I-69 alligator was likely plucked from the South by ignorant traveler (Chris Proffitt)
Fishers, Ind: An alligator that was likely plucked from a swamp and survived the wilds of Indiana is now going back to the South after what was a brief, but frightening adventure.
It started with a 911 call. Just imagine being a police dispatcher, and hearing this:
“We just saw -- I swear -- it’s an alligator on the side of the road. It’s the strangest thing.”
That was Friday night when the gator was spotted along Interstate 69 in Fishers and captured by police.
Because police didn't know what to do with an alligator, they called someone who does and who thinks the gator was caught in the South not long ago and was brought here.
Ron Billingsley is a reptile dealer and breeder who is caring for the animal for now. He thinks the 3-foot-long alligator is roughly 3 years old -- a baby in gator years -- and is hardly used to humans. Billingsley said he guesses the alligator hasn’t been here long.
“My best guess is probably no more than a week -- maybe a few days,” Billingsley said. “With our weather now getting into the low 40s, a couple of more days in our environment and it probably would have perished."
In June, office workers on the northwest side of the city thought they spotted an alligator in a retention pond, but conservation officers never found it. Experts say it’s not unusual for alligators to land in the Midwest.
“People do dumb things,” Billingsley said. “They go to Florida and Louisiana and bring stuff back."
Whoever it was, the person likely didn’t understand what they captured: an animal Billingsley says is 100-percent wild, and is now headed home.
"My goal is to ship it to Florida or Alabama,” Billingsley said. “(The) Alabama people said they'll take it. Florida people said, ‘We've got too many.’"
The alligator will likely be given to the operators of an Alabama alligator sanctuary. Billingsley said he’s also paying to have the gator flown back home.
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