(NEXSTAR) – A 7-foot alligator was captured by authorities in Florida after the animal “chased pedestrians through a Wendy’s parking lot,” police say.
“He may have just been ‘hangry’ for a cheeseburger, but he gave many quite the scare,” officials from the Lee County Sheriff’s Office joked on Twitter.
Deputies from the sheriff’s office, along with a “nuisance alligator trapper” from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC), responded to reports of a gator in Lehigh Acres, just east of Fort Myers, on Monday afternoon.
Footage of the gator also prompted the Lehigh Acres Fire Control and Rescue Division to joke that they may be experiencing a “slightly delayed response time” leaving the rehab facility on Monday.
The gator, measuring 7-feet-3-inches, was eventually trapped in the parking lot of the Lehigh Acres Health & Rehabilitation Center across the street from the Wendy’s, FWC confirmed. The animal has since been relocated to an alligator farm, the FWC confirmed.
Officials with the FWC say the gator was likely attempting to move “between two waterbodies” when it was spotted in the parking lots.
“Alligators prefer lakes and slow-moving rivers and their wetlands, but can also be found in brackish water and, for short periods of time, in saltwater,” a spokesperson for the FWC said.
The FWC added that anyone concerned about an alligator in their area should contact the FWC’s Nuisance Alligator Hotline at 866-FWC-GATOR.
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