Friday, March 30, 2007

"7-Foot Gator Caught on the Southeast Side"

Last October, there were some alligator sightings on the East Side. This is not unusual for East Texas, but it is strange for San Antonio.

Now, WOAI-TV reports that they have caught that great big lizard.

The chicken traps worked! Now a big alligator that crept into an East Bexar County pond is finally gone. But one neighbor doesn't think we've seen the last of the gators.

“This morning I got up about eight o'clock, and I looked out the window. I said, ‘That gate is down! He's in there!’” recalls Harold Rauschuber.

Sure enough, Harold found a seven-foot gator in the trap game wardens left outside his house near State Highway 87 and Southeast Loop 410.

“And it weighed about 150 pounds,” said Harold. “They estimated about six and a half, maybe seven feet long. Something in that proximity.”

They took that alligator down to Choke Canyon and let it go. Be careful if you go camping down there.

2 comments:

AlanDP said...

Alligators are actually more common than most people realize, once you go a little farther south. I've seen plenty of gators in the wilds of Atascosa County. Since they are rarely hunted (never legally, here), we will probably be seeing more of these reports as the years go on.

I could tell of a personal encounter with a gator once, but I might incriminate myself.

Albatross said...

Really, there are gators in Atascosa County? That's new to me. Anyway, alligators have been relatively rare around. I say "have been" because you could be right. We might be seeing more of these reports in the future.