The residents of Plaquemines Parish in Louisiana recently got the surprise of a lifetime when a large alligator patiently waiting for the local Dollar General store to open for business.
Photographed by Deputy Tony Palmisano outside the store’s sliding glass doors, the alligator already made an impression on onlookers, as it was estimated to be nearly 6 feet long. The Plaquemines Parish Sheriff’s Office shared a photo of the alligator to their Facebook page, captioning the photo, “This little fella was patiently waiting for the Dollar General to open this morning.”
While some social media users made jokes about the encounter with the reptile,reports indicate that the alligator was in fact relocated after it was spotted outside of the Dollar General.
As home to an abundance of alligators, Plaquemines Parish is located an hour south of New Orleans and Louisiana’s population of wild alligators is estimated to have increased from fewer than 100,000 to more than 2 million in the past 50 years, according to the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries.
Recently an 800-pound record alligator was caught in Mississippi by four hunters on the Yazoo River.
The giant was 14 feet long and weighed a stunning 802.5 lbs.
Shane Smith, owner of Red Antler Processing in Yazoo City said that he’s never seen anything like it.
“It was surreal. You know, I’ve seen a lot of big alligators as a processor and as a hunter, but this one was just unlike any one I’ve ever seen,” Smith told a reporter. “It was truly amazing.”
From Business Insider:
Will Thomas — the licensed hunter who, along with his friends Don Woods, Tanner White, and Joey Clark, are credited with reeling in the monstrous beast — told The Washington Post it took nearly seven hours of “pandemonium” and “chaos” to catch and kill the creature with a shotgun blast, in accordance with state law.
“The boat started taking on water, and we had to get him to other side to keep him from sinking,” Thomas told the Post. “You had four guys and a 14-foot alligator in a 14-foot boat, so it was touch-and-go there for a minute.”
