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Nearly 10-foot gator freed from drain
By VANESSA de la TORRE
Published October 27, 2005
Maybe it was a python, or a gator, or possibly another alligator in a python.
Liz Green stepped on her porch late Wednesday morning and saw several men peering into the storm drain in front of her house at 545 15th Ave. S in St. Petersburg. It was anyone's guess what lurked in the shallow water. So the men poked it with a stick.
"And it growled, or hissed, or whatever it does," said Green, 48.
Six hours later, it would take six men - fish and wildlife agents, police officers, city sewer and stormwater workers - to tame the 9-foot-10 gator that fought against 1,600 pounds of water pressure for more than a half-hour before it was finally pushed into a waiting trap. A crane lifted the gator as it twisted and thrashed its tail, scraping its limbs on concrete and asphalt.
About 20 neighbors offered cheers and taunts from across the street. But Green, who saw a smaller alligator crawl out of the same drain about four years ago, put her fingernails to her teeth. The gator, roped to a tree, flipped itself over again. "That's his death roll. Aww, poor baby. I feel sorry for him now," said Green. "He's bloodied." Exhausted, too. With duct tape around its snout, animal control agents loaded the fighter into a truck headed to a Dade City gator farm.
[Last modified October 27, 2005, 01:27:13]
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