Gator ate sports balls, small gator

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HILTON HEAD, S.C., May 24 (UPI) -- Alligator trappers in South Carolina said they opened up a 13-footer's stomach and found a soccer ball, baseballs, tennis balls and a smaller gator.

Mark Carinus, who assists pest control company Critter Management with trapping and harvesting nuisance gators, said the alligator caught Monday from Jarvis Creek Park on Hilton Head Island was found to have consumed 53 fishing lures, a half-pound of lead sinkers, a soccer ball, two baseballs, a tennis ball and two other balls that had been digested beyond recognition, The Island Packet, Hilton head, reported Thursday.

Carinus said he also found a beer can, 48 rocks, two turtles and a 4-foot alligator in the gator's stomach.

"People don't understand that this gator could not be relocated," Carinus said. "It would eat any smaller gator. It snapped up the soccer ball at the water's edge and it could easily snatch a dog or a small child."

Carinus said it is not unusual to find a small gator digesting in a larger reptile's stomach. He said they often get gobbled up in territorial battles.