When the call first came in from Coweta County emergency officials last Saturday, Jason Clark asked dispatchers to make sure it wasn't a log lying alongside I-85.
But by the time the Georgia State Patrol and the state Department of Natural Resources called, Clark knew that "log" had to be an alligator instead. A 6-foot, 9-inch one to be exact, he said.
Clark and his wife were on their way to talk about reptiles with a group in Covington, so he sent his dad, Mike, out to capture the animal. Mike Clark met the DNR alongside the highway and followed the alligator into an embankment where he bound up the animal and took it to Clark's Southeastern Reptile Rescue operation in Griffin.
"This is what I do for a living," Clark said.
Clark, his wife and his dad are all licensed to do so-called "nuisance" wildlife control. They help officials capture and often take in snakes, alligators and other reptiles. Clark said it's often someone thinks such an animal would make a good pet but then finds out differently. Other times, the reptile is illegal, and Clark will house it until a judge decides where it should go.
For that reason, Clark said nobody knows where his operation is, other than in Griffin.
"We have a lot of exotic, deadly snakes here as well as other things people have had illegally in Georgia," he said.
He also adopts the animals out, but says, for example, "just because you want a snake, doesn't mean you get one."
Wannabe owners first have to go to www.snakesareus.com and tell Clark what specific type of snake they want and explain in detail how they are going to care for it. Clark said he will get back to a potential owner but only after several weeks.
"We figure most people, this is done on impulse," he said. For serious owners who have done some research, "If they want it today, they will want it a month from now."
Alligators are common in south Georgia, but finding one this far north is rare. Clark thinks the recent floods helped this one travel along.
The Flint River is "alligator territory," Clark said. The alligator likely made his home there or the connecting White Oak Creek. It then probably followed a flooded area north and ended up along I-85.
Because of its size, Clark said he knew it was wild.
"This one, he's nobody's pet, he crawled up here," Clark said.
Others, ones that are two or three feet long, likely are or were owned by someone.
"They catch it and bring it home because they think it's cool, and then they turn it loose because (someone else in the house) gets mad," he said.
On Wednesday, Clark transported the alliagtor to his new home: a Pike County resident who has "several 100 acres of land," as well as a private lake that backs up to a swamp and eventually goes to the Flint River.
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