A large alligator known to many as \u201cBoots\u201d was captured at a Port Aransas drainage ditch on Saturday, Feb. 21, and taken to a new home at a facility called Gator Country in Beaumont. The gator was moved because people kept approaching it at \u201cunsafe distances\u201d over the course of months, said a news release issued by the City of Port Aransas today (Monday, Feb. 23.)<\/p>\n
Following is the text of the news release, in its entirety:<\/p>\n
\u201cAfter consultation and coordination between the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) and the City of Port Aransas, it was determined necessary to remove a large alligator this week from a drainage ditch along Howard Boulevard in the interest of public safety and the welfare of the animal.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe alligator, measuring more than 12 feet in length and weighing over 600 pounds, had become increasingly habituated to human presence. Over the last year, the animal was drawing growing numbers of onlookers who approached at unsafe distances, despite posted warning signage and ongoing public education efforts regarding appropriate behavior around wild alligators.<\/p>\n
\u201cDue to its size and habituation, relocation to the wild was not a viable option. The alligator was safely captured and transported to Gator Country in Beaumont, Texas, where it will be ethically housed in a semi-natural enclosure for the remainder of its life.<\/p>\n
\u201cAlligators of this size are rarely captured alive. During the process, wildlife professionals were able to collect valuable scientific data to better understand the animal\u2019s condition and contribute to ongoing research.<\/p>\n
\u201cTPWD reminds residents and visitors to never feed, harass, or approach wild alligators. Feeding wildlife can cause animals to lose their natural fear of humans, creating dangerous situations that may ultimately require intervention and removal. Respecting wildlife and maintaining safe distances helps protect both people and animals.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor more information on alligator safety, please visit the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department website.\u201d<\/p>\n
(Watch for more in the Feb. 25 edition of the South Jetty.)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A large alligator known to many as \u201cBoots\u201d was captured at a Port Aransas drainage ditch on Saturday,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":136638,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[155,157,156],"class_list":["post-176571","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-corpus-christi","tag-corpus-christi","tag-corpus-christi-headlines","tag-corpus-christi-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/176571","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=176571"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/176571\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/136638"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=176571"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=176571"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=176571"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}