Kentucky Woman Finds an Alligator on Her Doorstep

I've seen a snake skin next to my driveway indicating, of course, that we have serpents. They're probably the harmless kind, though. Fingers crossed, thoughts & prayers, etc.

I have seen a bullfrog the size of a shotput in a bucket of water that was on my porch. And there are no telling how many lizards I've caught a glimpse of scurrying about. But I've never had the kind of surprise a woman from Louisville had.

When an Alligator Pops Up in Suburban Louisville

You know, outside of a zoo, I have only ever seen an alligator in person one time, and it was where I would have expected it to be. When we were vacationing in/on Jekyll Island GA when I was a kid, we had to take a new shirt to my dad who was playing golf with his buddies. While there, he pointed out an alligator whose head was just sticking out of the water enough to serve as a warning--"LEAVE YOUR BALL IN THE WATER HAZARD AND GET ANOTHER ONE."

Retrospectively, I'm amused at him telling me not to get too close. "Uh, yeah, no problem."

But finding a gator in a body of water in the deep south shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone. Finding one on your doorstep in Kentucky? Well, that's a different matter.

Tuesday morning, Louisville's Jamesetta Townsend opened her front door to discover a 3-foot-long alligator on her stoop. She immediately called the Kentucky Department of Fish & Wildlife Resources who came and collected the reptile which was unharmed.

The Louisville Alligator Isn't Kentucky's First

Oddly enough, spotting an alligator in the Commonwealth is nothing new. A few years ago, a 4-footer was seen lounging on a log in Ballard County KY.

And Then There Was the Kentucky Caiman

And just a couple of years back, a caiman--a close relative of the alligator--was discovered in a Lexington creek.

Needless to say, alligators and caimans are not supposed to be here, and Kentucky Fish & Wildlife IS wondering how the Louisville gator materialized on Jamesetta Townsend's porch. Because it should also go without saying that it is ILLEGAL to have these creatures as pets.

We've read many stories about the trouble wildlife officials have in Florida rounding up non-native species like pythons, monitor lizards, and the like. Those things do a number on the ecology of the Florida Everglades where it is an enormous issue.

Let's not let that sort of thing happen in Kentucky. If you see a weird animal you're POSITIVE shouldn't be here, do what Ms. Townsend did and call the Kentucky Department of Fish & Wildlife. They'll always remove the creature safely, if possible, and then all will be right with the world.

And then you can feel comfortable going back out onto your front porch.

[SOURCE: WLKY-Louisville]