Oklahoma City Animal Welfare Removes Alligator From Drainage Ditch

Oklahoma City Police got a unique call Wednesday afternoon. Members of the city’s water department said they’d come across an alligator in a large drainage ditch near Southeast 15th and High. 

The gator was hovering next to a partially submerged truck. Police trapped the three-foot-long reptile, and handed it over to the Oklahoma Department of Animal Welfare, until Game Wardens from the State Department of Wildlife hauled it away. 

Animal Welfare Supervisor Jon Gary said the gator was probably someone’s pet that had been discarded because it had grown to be too large. “There’s always stories, people get them as small babies and then try to keep them as pets.”

Gary said it was only the second alligator call he’s heard at the Oklahoma Department of Animal Welfare in 16 years. 

Game Warden  Jeff Headrick told News 9 he was driving the gator to Washita County, where he will be kept, until he is released back into the wild.