Alligator spotted outside a Dollar Tree in Georgia. ‘Never seen this in my life’
An alligator spotted outside a Dollar Tree was just outside the entrance, Georgia video shows.
“There is (an) alligator at my front door,” a store worker said in a 911 recording shared with WJBF.
Officials said the 4- to 5-foot gator found a new home after they were called at about 7:30 a.m. Aug. 3 to a shopping plaza on Laney Walker Boulevard in Augusta. The city is known for golfing and lies across the Savannah River from South Carolina.
“Never seen this in my life,” one person can be heard saying in a video that Facebook user Steffany Fallen shared online.
The 12-second video, which shows a reptile on a sidewalk, rattled some social media users.
“Glad I didn’t go over there,” one person commented.
But others reacted to the unexpected visitor in a more lighthearted way.
“He probably just wants some lotion,” one Facebook user wrote.
The alligator didn’t hurt anyone, and conflicts with people are rare in Georgia. The state’s Department of Natural Resources reported nine attacks from 1980 to 2007, resulting in one death.
People who see alligators near a water habitat are urged to keep their distance. In Georgia, the creatures usually are found “along and south of the fall line (which roughly traverses the cities of Columbus, Macon and Augusta),” officials said.
The gator spotted on Aug. 3 might have walked toward the Dollar Tree from nearby wetlands or a canal.
“It’s not uncommon at all for alligators to be found a long distance from water,” I.B. Parnell, a wildlife biologist with the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, told McClatchy News in a phone interview. “Usually what’s going on is they’re traveling from one water body to another either in search of a new territory or maybe in search of additional food resources.”
A photo shows the gator was captured in the dollar store’s parking lot. The creature was “measured, tagged and released in the Savannah River,” according to officials.
This story was originally published August 5, 2022 at 12:25 PM with the headline "Alligator spotted outside a Dollar Tree in Georgia. ‘Never seen this in my life’."
