Photos

See ya later, alligator

Herald-Dispatch photo by Bishop Nash Retired herpetologist and Ohio University-Southern professor Larry Cartmill grips the wriggling three-foot long male alligator as the escaped creature was removed from an Oakland Avenue home Monday, June 30, 2014, in Huntington.
Herald-Dispatch photo by Bishop Nash
Retired herpetologist and Ohio University-Southern professor Larry Cartmill grips the wriggling three-foot long male alligator as the escaped creature was removed from an Oakland Avenue home Monday, June 30, 2014, in Huntington.

HUNTINGTON, W.Va. — Richard Bledsoe knows there are some things people have to see to believe.

That’s why Bledsoe’s first instinct was to grab his phone and take a photo of a 3-foot-long alligator he found in his backyard along West Oakland Drive, just off of Norway Avenue, Monday evening.

“I was coming home, and I saw the alligator laying across the porch,” Bledsoe said. “He looked at me, gave me a hiss and crawled to the edge of the deck. I thought, ‘What is in my yard?’ I was able to quickly assess it, but the first thing I did was get my phone to take a picture because I knew no one was going to believe me.”

Indeed, Huntington Police officers arriving on the scene were a little skeptical, but quickly came around after the alligator was found in his hiding spot beneath the deck of the home Bledsoe shares with Amie Maynard.

Before talking about the legality of owning such an animal or determining what would happen once the alligator was captured, about six officers with the help of local herpetologist Larry Cartmill were able to coax the alligator out from under the deck in about 30 minutes…

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