Bit more than a gator could chew!

When you dream of security, you may assume that police officers will be well-enough equipped to keep the peace.  As a policeman with no animal training,  how would you coax a fierce, over-sized alligator without a chair? As the two meter long creature decides to park itself in the middle of a busy highway and hold everybody up, you might think this would pose a new challenge to traditional highway patrol.  If it was you in uniform, could you keep your cool and also calm the public chaos?

In San Antonio, Texas, such a gator incident occurred on April 30, 2007.  Of course, no police procedures to deal with wild alligators lay hidden in the glove compartment training manuel.  Since these creatures are protected, quick drawing a pistol like they do in the "wild West" wasn't going to be an option.  The gator appeared moody and territorial, and didn't like the idea humans and their machines had taken over the highway.  What the gator himself was doing on the highway, wasn't verifiable.  He clearly wasn't volunteering any explantaion.  

Just when the policeman thought he might have been getting though, using basic verbal psychology, and cautious hand gestures, the huge gator moved to assult the police car, and bite a chunk from the bumper.  That certainly put the policeman in place. He didn't wish to get bitten.

Once a group of police officers arrived as reinforcements, they effectively employed a lasso and metal poles to coax the alligator into a drainage ditch leading to a neaby lake.  That was more than the creature could chew.  Witnesses described the scene as, "comparable to fumbling comedy." How often do you see a group of serious policemen challenged and overly-cautious to keep the peace with one troublemaker? 

State game warden David Chavez couldn't explain why a gator would be drawn to noise on a busy highway.  This act appeared to be out of its character, unless the animal was curious perhaps or, seeking a true, drier change of scenery?  Pollution and environmental devastation have been known to cause disorientation in animale sensory perception.  What is clear is that the spectacle offered rare photo opportunities for anyone close enough and gutsy enough to take a shot.