‘Big Tex’: largest captive alligator in US found after escaping in Imelda flooding
This article is more than 4 years oldAlligator found near a pond on the Gator Country property. A number of his smaller friends, however, are still missing
Residents of Beaumont, Texas, who saw this summer’s alligator horror movie Crawl might have suffered more sleepless nights this week, after the largest gator ever captured in the US was reported missing amid flooding caused by Tropical Storm Imelda.
Crawl, which the Guardian said “chomps off exactly the right amount to chew”, deals with the plight of a father and daughter menaced by alligators in a hurricane-flooded home.
After Imelda dropped 43in of rain in 72 hours, the Gator Country Adventure Park found itself submerged.
When staff checked, Big Al, an 84-year-old 13-footer, was still in contented residence. But Big Tex, nearly 14ft long and weighing 1,000lbs, was gone.
“We were unsure he had even escaped,” Jon Warner, alligator program leader for the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, told the Washington Post. “But when the water level went down, Big Tex wasn’t there.”
Gator Country founder Gary Saurage told the Beaumont Enterprise Tex would be found, as after all: “You can’t miss an alligator that big.”
And on Friday, once the waters had receded, Big Tex was duly located, near a pond on the Gator Country property. A number of his smaller friends, however, were still missing.
Warner said the escapees were “mostly just three-, four- and five-footers” which “probably just swam over the fence”.
Speaking to the Enterprise, he said the animals were “highly acclimated to people and are generally hand fed”.
“They are not wild and will not terrorize people,” he said.
9 foot #gator pulled from home in Humble. Be careful when returning to flooded homes. There may be unwanted visitors. @abc13houston pic.twitter.com/1X5ZGxz57w
— Chris Nocera (@13ProducerChris) September 1, 2017Gator Country has seen other storm-assisted escapes. In 2017, under Hurricane Harvey, around 50 alligators swam away from the sanctuary.
A 9ft gator was subsequently removed from a flooded home. Many more joined members of a thriving if temporarily displaced wild population in a ditch by a highway, and were safely rounded up.
In a public advisory, Warner said: “Alligators are wary of people but keep your distance. Never approach, harass or feed an alligator. When water levels recede, the alligator will likely disappear as well.”
ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7tbTEoKyaqpSerq96wqikaK2jYrumw9JoaWlpaWTApryOa3BompmcerWx12ajmqqXmsC1ecKap62hppp6orjLop6arJ%2Bneqe71KebZqGdmrmlrYysq6iqnQ%3D%3D