After several days of media attention and talk around the reservoir's communities, the alligator that garnered so much attention on Lake Lanier is now with a reptile rescue group.
Jason Clark with Southeastern Reptile Rescue in Orchard Hill, Georgia, managed to get the three foot long reptile out of the water Wednesday night after about two hours of what he called a game of, "cat and mouse."
Appearing on the Bill and Joel Morning Show on WDUN Thursday, Clark said the alligator was pretty easy to find. State wildlife officials put them on the trail.
"We spoke with Georgia Department of Natural Resources. They actually provided us with a map of where the gator had been spotted," Clark said.
Clark said he parked at Don Carter State Park and after a five to ten minute boat ride was able to spot the animal. The crew went out at night because alligators are nocturnal according to Clark. He said they're easy to spot at night because their eyes reflect light so well.
"It's a matter of having to get close enough to him so we can catch him, and there's all these boat docks there with boats in each slip, so he would go under a dock and then go hide next to a boat, and then zip over to another dock."
Clark said the just over three feet long male gator was the smallest he ever went out to catch. He said his last capture was well south of north Georgia and involved an animal over ten feet long.
He said he believes the Lanier animal was likely dumped in the lake by a person and didn't find its own way north to Lanier.
"This is a gator that was probably caught by somebody who was fishing in south Georgia. They brought it home (and) decided, 'if we get caught with this, we can go to jail,' so they just threw it in the lake," Clark said.
In the early morning interview, Clark said the Lanier gator would become part of the rescue's collection because it likely wouldn't survive if relocated and released into the wild.
"After further consultation and investigation between Mr. Clark and DNR biologists, it was determined that this alligator is not human habituated, has no life-threatening injuries and is in good health. As such, it will be relocated to South Georgia well within the range of alligators in Georgia," a late morning news release from the Georgia Department of Natural Resources stated.
The rescue has a mobile zoo of sorts it uses to safely bring reptiles to schools, nature center and events to educate people about the animals.
