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South Padre Island sanctuary relocating gators for potential storm activity

South Padre Island sanctuary relocating gators for potential storm activity
2 days 12 hours 5 minutes ago Monday, July 01 2024 Jul 1, 2024 July 01, 2024 6:19 PM July 01, 2024 in News - Local

The uncertainty in the Gulf of Mexico is causing a local gator sanctuary to act.

South Padre Island Birding Nature and Alligator Sanctuary moved out all of their gators just in case activity picks up in the next couple of days.

Staff and volunteers want to make sure the alligators do not get out in the community. They're rounding up all gators and taking them to their sister organization, Gator Country, in Beaumont.

First, the most challenging catch of the day.

The large male alligator, Big Padre, is the strongest gator at the sanctuary. They put the snare around his neck and get one lucky pull. He fights back, but the volunteers keep pulling.

"Big Padre, more than 50 years old, and 800 pounds, 12-feet long, putting up a fight against all these people here who are trying to get him out of the water." Herpetologist Jake Reinbolt said.

They pull out Big Padre with the help of an ATV and towing straps.

Then the remaining 35 gators, the juvenile gators who were living in another pond, will also go to Gator Country.

All the gators at the sanctuary are not wild gators. They were recovered in the wild as a nuisance, because they started associating people with food.

"All the alligators that are here in the first place are here because they couldn't be in the wild anymore. They've been habituated around humans, associating humans with food," Reinbolt said.

This organization is giving a home to those gators that can't be in the wild and moving them away from the storm should flooding come to the island.

Watch the video above for the full story.

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