Cops catch alligator in Suwanee subdivision

Suwanee Police have dealt with some wily characters, but perhaps none so cold-blooded as this.

A 2-foot-long alligator was trapped by police Sunday afternoon outside of a home at 4570 Colony Point.

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Suwanee Police Department

Suwanee Police named this 2-foot-long reptile ‘Investi-Gator’ and stashed him in a dog crate.

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Residents of Secret Cove subdivision called police at 5:21 p.m. to report the reptile was lounging in their front yard, said Capt. Clyde Byers, spokesman for Suwanee Police Department.

Four officers who responded to the home were able to wrangle the alligator into a large plastic dog crate, according to a police report. Police then contacted the Georgia Department of Natural Resources to pick it up. A representative from DNR, however, said that due to a medical emergency, he would be unable to collect the critter until Monday. He assured Suwanee officers the alligator would be safe in the crate until that time, Byers said.

The crate was left on the back of a golf cart parked in the sallyport of the police department. Some officers took to calling the toothy reptile “Investi-Gator” and went out of their way to be hospitable — wetting it down periodically to keep it comfortable, Byers said.

“We’re not really equipped to capture, house and maintain wild animals, but in this case, luckily it was small enough to where we were able to hang onto it until we could turn it over to the proper authorities,” Byers said.

Byers said someone from the Department of Natural Resources picked up the alligator this morning.

Jennifer Barnes, spokeswoman for the Wildlife Resources Division of the Department of Natural Resources, was unaware of the incident and did not immediately know what became of the alligator. She said it was probably relocated to a safe area farther south or given to a licensed gator farm.

“What probably happened is someone may have had it illegally in their home, and it may have gotten too big, and they let it go,” Barnes said. “That’s probably why it was in a residential area when it was found.”

State wildlife officials have been searching for the past three weeks for another elusive alligator lurking in the waters of Lake Lanier. Barnes said DNR biologists have been unable to trap or locate it.

The size of that alligator is estimated at 3 to 4 feet long, which officials said is too small to be a danger to the public.