Gone Fishin’…For Alligator?

Hey it’s Leslie Harris. Recently, a guy was fishing in Northeast Tennessee. He knew he had caught a big one, but imagine his surprise when he found a 3 to 4 ft long alligator!

Now, being a northern girl, I thought, ‘well, Tennessee is south.’ Well, it turns out that alligators are no more native to Tennessee than they are to Illinois.

So get this. The guy wrangled the gator to the ground, and had it pinned behind its head when the wildlife officer got to the scene. I would not want to get that close to an alligator’s head.

The alligator was taken to the Little Ponderosa Zoo and Rescue in Clinton, Tennessee, which houses exotic animals. Unfortunately, that particular zoo is not equipped for alligators, so they’re looking for a new home for it.

A spokesperson for Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency stated, “While the origin of the alligator is unclear, it is evident that it was being illegally held in captivity and possibly released into Norris Lake.”

I’m guessing some knucklehead found a baby gator in Florida or Louisiana and thought it would make a nice pet, and then when they realized that no, they don’t, they released it into the lake, putting people, pets and other wildlife in danger.

Hopefully this was a kid, but who knows?

So, I want to know, what bone-headed thing did, you or one of your friends do that seems like a good idea at the time, but turned out to be a bad decision. Let me know in the Facebook comments