ST. LANDRY PARISH \u2014 In South Louisiana, it\u2019s not unusual to spot snakes, turtles or fish near the water. But early Wednesday, a Port Barre resident called police about a different kind of visitor: an alligator.<\/p>\n
Port Barre Police Chief Deon Boudreaux said the call came in just before sunrise from a home where a woman reported an alligator in her yard. Officers found the animal nearby and estimated it measured about 6 1\/2 feet long.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe lady calls and said there\u2019s an alligator in her yard,\u201d Boudreaux said. \u201cWell, we found it, and he\u2019s about 6.5 ft, I guess.\u201d<\/p>\n
Video from the scene shows officers moving quickly to secure the reptile. Boudreaux said police located the alligator in a field, used a catch pole to pull it toward the road and worked together to restrain it.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne of the officers got on top of him. Officer Lane got on top of him, held him down, and held his mouth down, and then I taped him up,\u201d Boudreaux said.<\/p>\n
Police said the alligator was removed from the area and released into a bayou.<\/p>\n
But the call may have had a troubling twist. Boudreaux said the homeowner told officers one of her dogs was missing and suggested the alligator may have eaten it. There has been no confirmation that happened.<\/p>\n
Officials with the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries said alligators are opportunistic feeders and that sightings can increase this time of year.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019ll pretty much eat anything,\u201d said Jeb Lincombs with Wildlife and Fisheries.<\/p>\n
Lincombs said Louisiana is currently in the middle of alligator breeding season, and recent heavy rain events can also contribute to more gators showing up in neighborhoods as high water pushes them out of their usual habitat.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe first thing you should do is keep a safe distance from it,\u201d Lincombs said. \u201cObviously don\u2019t harass alligators. You\u2019re welcome to take pictures and view alligators from a safe distance, but do not approach it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Boudreaux echoed that advice, urging residents to stay alert and give wildlife space.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you see one, don\u2019t get close to it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ST. LANDRY PARISH \u2014 In South Louisiana, it\u2019s not unusual to spot snakes, turtles or fish near the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":712088,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[51],"tags":[79,307029,201],"class_list":["post-712087","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-science","tag-st-landry-parish","tag-wildlife"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/712087","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=712087"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/712087\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/712088"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=712087"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=712087"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=712087"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}