SOMERS, Wis. - A four-foot-long alligator that gave a woman a scare when
it turned up in her yard will stay in a local fire station for a week
until it can be transported to a more hospitable place for the species -
Florida.
Carol Fischer, chairwoman of the town of Somers, spent part of Friday
searching for a larger animal crate to house the alligator, nicknamed
"Wally" by local officials.
"We really don't know what to do with him," Fischer said. "Since he'll
be here for a week, we need to give him better quarters. It is not like
a stray dog. You can't just take it to a humane society and hope someone
adopts him."
She said she contacted zoos in Racine and Milwaukee counties, and they
wouldn't take Wally.
Plans now call for a representative of a Sheboygan-based reptile rescue
organization to pick up the alligator, but he can't do it until next
Friday.
That means Fire Station 1 will be the 'gator's home until then.
Mary Anne Cline said she spotted the alligator Thursday afternoon
standing between two trees in her yard, and she thought it was dead
until it opened its mouth and gave her a scare.
It took two Kenosha County sheriff's deputies and the Somers humane
agent, Bob Warren, to get the alligator into Cline's dog cage once
Warren got a noose on the reptile.
Sheriff's Sgt. Robert Crocker said authorities are investigating where
the alligator came from, but he doubted its owner would be found.
"We're assuming someone had it when it was small, then it got out of
hand," Croeker said.
Somers officials said that until the alligator is relocated, they will
keep it cooled off, which keeps it less active, and provide it with raw
chicken, bones and all, to eat.
News of the discovery has made the alligator a celebrity of sorts,
Fischer said, with television stations and county residents asking to
see it.
"We need to figure out how we can let people see him, but make sure we
keep them safe," Fischer said. "Right now he just smells really bad."
Information from: Kenosha News, http://www.kenoshacounty.com
http://www.duluthsuperior.com/mld/duluthsuperior/news/politics/11867380.htm
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