JACKSONVILLE, N.C. -- There's roadkill, and then there's what one motorist left on U.S. 17 in Onslow County Monday night.
Authorities said a driver hit a 12-foot-long American alligator that weighed 475 pounds. It was so big that officials needed an excavator to get it off the road. The reptile was removed by state Department of Transportation officials on Tuesday.
State wildlife officials said the alligator was about 85 years old when it was struck.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said the American alligator was taken off the endangered species list in 1987, but the legal trade of alligator skin is still regulated.
The reptiles live throughout the Southeast, and a North Carolina Department of Transportation engineer says it's not uncommon for them to cross major roadways as part of their seasonal migration
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