Then there’s the Gator.
A 6-foot-long alligator trapped in a South Carolina drainage pipe for months was finally freed this week.
The alligator was first spotted in October when residents of Port Royal Plantation, a luxury gated community in Hilton Head, saw its snout poking out of a metal grate. Island Packet and Beaufort Gazette reported..
Matt Craker, owner of Bluffton-based K&K Wildlife Services, finally came to the rescue Thursday morning.
“I’ve had them in drains before, but I’ve never seen them in something this small (in a pipe),” Craker told The Island Packet.
“It was only a 12-inch pipe, and the body was pretty much shattered there,” he noted.
Craker speculated that the alligator probably became stuck in the pipe after making a sharp turn and being unable to turn.
Neighbors had only occasionally seen the alligator in the drain over the past few months, and when they contacted Craker, they were convinced the alligator was trapped, he said.
Craker managed to free the alligator by removing a metal grate and using a catchpole, a human restraint placed around the reptile’s neck, to pull it out, the Island Packet reported.
Craker said the process required about 10 minutes of pulling.
“I was rocking him back and forth, trying to shake him all over,” he told the paper.
Craker said the crocodile, which was probably about 6 years old, did not appear malnourished, but added that it appeared it had been in the drain for months and some of its skin had rubbed off to the bone.
Craker said the crocodile may have been maintaining its weight by eating small fish that found their way into the drainage canal.
The Island Packet noted that the six-month stay was also when most of the crocodiles were injured, entering a five-month dormancy period.
“It might not have been a bad time for that to happen,” Craker said.
“They were probably going in and out[of dormancy]which helped them stay healthy rather than just sitting there starving in the summer.”
Craker released the alligator about 50 yards from the drainage ditch and was able to safely return it to the Hilton Head lagoon.
“He staggered a bit, but crocodiles are very strong, so I don’t think there will be any problems,” the expert predicted.
Craker said the company removes about one alligator a year from local drainage systems connected to reservoirs frequented by alligators.
