10 Nov The Alligator Outside Pathway UB Church

Pathway UB church in Jackson, Mich., made the national news on Monday, November 7.

A pastor from another church, while driving by just before noon, spotted a six-foot alligator roaming the church property. He turned the car around, telling his two young daughters in the back seat, “I think I just saw an alligator.” The girls, ages 7 and 9, didn’t believe him. But he stopped the car, got out, and threw small stones at the alligator to make sure it was real.

He called 911. The dispatcher sounded skeptical about someone seeing an alligator, but the police were dispatched. They slipped a noose around the alligator’s head, and then duct-taped its jaws shut.

The alligator will be sent to a sanctuary. It probably wouldn’t have survived long in a Michigan winter. Considering its size and good health, zoo officials suggest that the reptile was just recently released into the wild.

You can watch a video of the alligator being caught on the WLNS-TV Facebook page. You can see Pathway Community Church in the background.

The report was picked up by a number of news outlets, including the Associated Press, MSNBC, and the Huffington Post.