Belligerent gator relocated at Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge

When an alligator at Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge began threatening visitors, it was obvious something had to be done.

"The alligator had been by Kiskadee Trail for a long time with no problems," refuge biologist Jody Mays said. "But we got reports from visitors that it had been hissing at people as they went by and acting more aggressive."

The decision was made to call Gladys Porter Zoo in Brownsville.

"I didn't know if they would be able to come out and help, but they could at least give us advice on what the best approach would be and what we should do," Mays said.

Mays was put in touch with Colette Hairston Adams, the zoo's general curator, who said the gator needed to be moved because it was protecting a nest.

Adams pulled together her team and headed for the refuge.

She was accustomed to working with crocodiles at the zoo, but this was her first time to be called to relocate an alligator at the refuge.

What made this capture and relocation unique was that the alligator was not in water, but beside a wooden pedestrian bridge.

"The thing that struck me was how much debris and branches we had to negotiate," she said. "The navigation of the surroundings was something we hadn't foreseen."

That made catching the alligator, a 6-foot female, a challenge.

"I wasn't so much concerned about hurting the alligator, but working in such close quarters someone could have been bitten," Adams said.

Doing the actual capture was Gladys Porter Zoo supervisor of herpetology Brian Henley, whose dad runs a zoo in Lufkin.

He said he has caught six to eight alligators ranging up to 12 feet. This, however, was his first experience with a Rio Grande Valley gator. For him, it was a piece of cake.

"This one was a pretty easy capture," Henley said. "It was not a very large alligator and it was not in an inaccessible place."

Henley said every catch and release is different and requires a different battle plan.

"You have to get a good grip on your surroundings and have to be confident the people you're working with are good people and then you sit down with your team and devise a plan and then you execute the plan," he said.

It was Henley's task to snare the alligator and make certain it would not be able to fight back and bite any team member.

Once the alligator was snared, the jaws were taped along with the hind feet.

A quilt was placed over the gator's head, making certain the nostrils were clear.

Adams and Henley put the alligator in a pickup for the trip to Laguna Atascosa, the giant lake for which the refuge took its name. It was hoped the lake was far enough away that the reptile would not try to find its way back.

U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service firefighter-paramedic Eric Verderber was given the task of controlling the gator as it was separated from the tape.

Once free, the alligator wasted no time heading for open water as another gator took in the spectacle a few yards away.

The story did not end there, however.

Back at the capture site, the nest site was dug up and 13 eggs were found, 12 of which were deemed fertile.

Mays, Adams and Henley debated what to do about the eggs. One option included leaving them there, but without the mother's protection they would likely fall prey to predators.

Another idea was to move the eggs to where the mother was released, but enclose them in a makeshift pen. That idea, however, was also rejected.

Finally, it was decided to take the eggs to the zoo, incubate them there and release the hatchlings at the refuge.

"This is a young alligator and these eggs are probably her first," Henley said. "That's one reason they are so small. They may not make it."

He speculated the eggs were only about a week old and could take about two months before hatching.