http://www.democratandchronicle.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050717/NEWS01/507170339
Alligator on loose in Southern Tier
Another captured; new ban on exotics may have spurred release
Gary McLendon
Staff writer
(July 17, 2005) — Warning: If you see something big with scales by a nearby creek — it might not be a turtle.
An abandoned alligator is on the loose somewhere south of here.
"Two alligators were spotted three weeks ago on the shoulder off Route 86," said wildlife conservationist Tom Hudak of Steuben County, who trains area law enforcement agencies on how to capture and handle exotic wild animals.
Marvin Rethmel, animal control officer for the town of Urbana in Steuben County, captured one of the gators Friday in Wayland.
"The people called and said there was an alligator in the ditch beside their house and the dog was barking at it," said Rethmel. He put a noose over the gator's head and taped its mouth shut.
The Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals delivered the reptile — commonly found in Florida, not New York — to Hudak.
A deadline to comply with a new law banning private ownership of venomous reptiles and other exotics was July 1.
It may have prompted someone to abandon the alligators, Hudak said.
The captured 4- to 6-year-old gator is in good condition and appears to have been well-fed, he said.
The alligator still in the wild can survive until November, when temperatures consistently dip into the 40s, the conservationist added.
GMCLENDN@DemocratandChronicle.com
