Asheville NC - Alligator Caught in French Broad

These stories are becoming a weekly thing it seems. Apparently there's an infinite supply of stupidity available with all these people who want a gator then turn it loose. This will not do us any favors fighting the laws in NC.

BREVARD – For more than 15 hours over three days, they stalked their prey.

Finding the alligator was no problem, even for a trio of amateurs from a paddling business. Catching it was harder.

But about 12:30 a.m. Sunday, the wire loop of Sid Cullipher’s catchpole snagged the alligator between head and forelegs. One savvy application of duct tape later, they had bagged the mysterious creature roaming the French Broad River.

The reptile that boaters have reported seeing in recent weeks is a juvenile American alligator more than 3 feet long. It’s at Brevard College until officials figure out where to send it.

Lori Williams, wildlife biologist with the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission, said the American alligator is listed as a federally threatened species, and the college cannot keep the animal without proper permits.

At first some thought the animal was a caiman, a close cousin of the alligator that some people keep as a pet. But Cullipher said it’s not hard to buy an alligator despite its protected status.

“Apparently you can buy them off the Internet,” he said, “and I know in Florida especially there’s some kind of shady alligator ponds that will sell you hatchlings.”

Growing up in Florida, Cullipher used to handle small alligators. He didn’t expect to go after any as program manager of Headwaters Outfitters in Transylvania County.

But spurred by concern that the gator might die in the cold mountain water or be shot, he enlisted Aaron Motley and Adam Beason and hunted it down.

It didn’t all go smoothly. Once he had the wire looped around the gator, Cullipher tried to wade ashore only to sink past his knees in mud. The reptile swam toward the canoe as his captor tried to wrench free of the mud, surprising Motley enough that he leapt backward out of the boat in surprise.

Once on shore, though, Cullipher got the alligator on its back and brought his hand up its stomach slowly until he could clamp its mouth shut. He wrapped its snout with duct tape and put the animal in a burlap sack.

He hopes authorities will prosecute whoever abandoned the gator, which he said is just as illegal as possessing one.

“Someone could have gotten hurt,” Cullipher said. “This is a wild creature, a three-and-a-half-foot gator. It could take a chunk out of you.”

Gary Peeples, with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, said because the alligator was probably in contact with humans before its release into the river, it likely would not be a candidate for re-introduction into the wild.

“I’m almost certain because it was in found in the French Broad River that this animal has had anything but a normal life so far,” Peeples said.

Chuck Byrd, chief of Transylvania County Animal Services said the animal would be relocated but declined to give specifics.

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Lori Williams, wildlife biologist with the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission, said the American alligator is listed as a federally threatened species, and the college cannot keep the animal without proper permits.

I thought the alligator was delisted.

I'm not sure if they were delisted completely or just downgraded from endangered to threatened.
Regardless of the federal distinction, I would have thought they were listed on the NC state level anyway due to the small range they have in the state. It doesn't mention anything about that though.

BREVARD – The alligator captured in the French Broad River has been handed over to state officials and was expected to be released into the wild in coastal North Carolina.

Chuck Byrd, chief of Transylvania County Animal Services, said today that a biologist picked up the American alligator from Brevard College, where it was kept after its capture Sunday by three men from a kayaking and canoeing business.

The biologist took the reptile away inside a plastic tub in a pickup truck, Byrd said.

Details were not immediately available on when and where it was to be released.

It’s believed the gator was probably raised by people and dumped in the river, so some officials have expressed doubts about whether it should be released in the wild.

It should not have trouble surviving, Gary Peeples of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said. But “perhaps the alligator would be less cautious around people, to the detriment of people.”

Still, Peeples said it's unclear whether that would happen because reptiles are less able than mammals or birds to imprint on – or develop preferences toward – humans.

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