Why did the gator cross the road? He was randy, SC authorities say
Some Charleston drivers getting a head start on their Wednesday morning commutes experienced quite a delay. That's because an alligator made his way onto an interstate.
The 6-foot-long alligator was sitting on a ramp for I-526, according to upi.com, which reported that the North Charleston Police Department responded to a call about the gator just before 4 a.m.
The ramp was temporarily shut down before South Carolina Department of Natural Resources employees arrived to capture the alligator.
Some took to Twitter with jokes that the alligator was looking to beat the traffic.
The SCDNR employees that eventually removed the gator had a different explanation why he was on the highway.
"Now is the season when male alligators are on the move as they search for new territory and mates," SCDNR spokeswoman Erin Weeks said, according to live5news.com. "So it’s not uncommon for these animals to move through developed areas."
Something similar happened on an interstate in Florida earlier this month, according to upi.com, which said an alligator wandered on I-295 in Jacksonville, but was removed.
The Charleston gator could face a different outcome.
In the past, alligators that were captured by SCDNR were killed for being nuisances.
“The state requires that any nuisance gator be put down now, no matter what size it is,” Ray Loflin, owner of Dreamscape Outdoors Animal Control, said in May 2017.
Relocation, once illegal, is now allowed under certain conditions that take into consideration how the alligator behaves and whether it poses any threat, live5news.com reported. But Weeks was unsure of this gator's fate.
This alligator was smaller than average.
SCDNR reports 10 feet is the average length for male American alligators, while females average around 8 feet. The largest alligator ever recorded measured just over 19 feet and weighed 1,043 pounds, according to SCDNR.
This story was originally published April 25, 2018 at 8:49 PM with the headline "Why did the gator cross the road? He was randy, SC authorities say."