Texas alligator captured, released

MAGNOLIA, Texas, Sept. 3 (UPI) -- Police and a truck driver rescued a four-foot alligator as it attempted to cross a Magnolia, Texas, road, and the gator got a ride in a patrol car, police said.

Tow-truck driver and experienced alligator handler Richard Wible reported seeing the alligator early Monday morning, and with the help of Magnolia police, confined it with a rope and taped its eyes and mouth shut with electrical tape, the Montgomery County (Texas) Police Reporter said Monday.

The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department was notified, and offered the suggestion that since the alligator was already captured and confined, it should be released in an undisclosed body of water in Montgomery County away from any threat to the public.

Wible, familiar with alligators from working with the nearby city of Anahuac, Texas, home of the "Texas Gator Fest," was slapped across the back by the animal's tail, which the newspaper said "sounded like a professional baseball player hitting a home run," but after the alligator was controlled it was driven in the back seat of a patrol car to the lake. An officer removed the tape and rope, and Wible tossed it in. The alligator spent a moment watching its captors, then swam away, the newspaper said.