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Alligator caught trying to raid California koi pond

By Ben Hooper
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Oct. 9 (UPI) -- California authorities said an alligator dubbed "Darth Gator" after trying to climb into a resident's koi pond was found to have escaped from a rescuer's home.

Petaluma resident Karen Davis-Brown said she spotted the alligator in her back yard on Thursday night and called Petaluma Animal Services to report the animal, which she described during the call only as a 4-foot reptile with a lot of teeth.

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"I wasn't going to tell him there's an alligator in the back yard, because who would believe that," Davis-Brown told KGO-TV.

"So he was right here and he was just sitting here with his mouth open and he looked real but it was just too weird," she said. "Quite a few cops showed up wondering if we were crazy people."

Animal Services Officer Mark Scott said the alligator capture was highly unusual.

"This is my first. Five years -- first one," he said.

He said the alligator was likely attracted to the back yard's koi pond, but was not able to get to the fish due to a lip around the pond.

"The Browns have a koi pond in their back yard and you can see they have about a half-dozen fish and no joke -- the concrete alligator has been in there as well for about 15 years," Scott said.

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"If I was an alligator, that's where I would go," he told the Santa Rosa Press-Democrat.

Scott was able to use his net to ensnare the alligator before taping its mouth shut.

"It's pretty nimble actually -- I thought it would be slower, but they're pretty fast," he said.

The gator was taken to the Petaluma animal shelter, where it was dubbed Darth Gator. Authorities later heard from Bonnie Cromwell, who runs the animal rescue and education group Classroom Safari.

"You have to get a permit from fish and game, and she has one from them that's current," Scott said. "She was in the middle of relocating them to another better facility and it was able to get away."

Sonoma County Reptile Rescue said it is caring for the alligator and it will be returned to Cromwell once officials are satisfied that Classroom Safari is providing proper accommodations for the reptile.

"We lived in Florida for a year and never had an alligator in our back yard in Florida -- but in Petaluma? We have an alligator in our back yard," Davis-Brown said.

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