Close encounter of the reptilian kind

Queen City man comes face to face with alligator

By Bobby Horn Jr.
news@casscountynow.com

A Queen City man got a surprise June 11 when he stepped out of his home on Highway 74 - a 7-foot-4-inch package of hissing reptilian skin.
Charles Lawrence said the last thing he expected to find in his yard was an alligator, but there it was near some bushes about six feet away from him.
“She was making the most horrible hissing sound I have ever heard in my life,” he said.
Lawrence said that he called 911 and was advised by the dispatcher that if he felt that he or someone else were in danger he was allowed to shoot the animal. He was told that it was possible that the animal was protecting herself or maybe a nearby nest and that in an agitated state it could attack.
“We’ve got a lot of kids who play in this area,” Lawrence said. “My grandkids play in this yard and I would hate to see them come across one.”
He said that he did shoot the animal, which was later taken away by a game warden.
Lawrence said that closest large body of water was about a mile from his home near the Queen City ISD Administration building and with the exception of a couple of small ponds he didn’t know from where the alligator came.
Texas Fish and Wildlife Game Warden Daniel Kessler said that alligators will emit a hissing sound when they feel threatened.
Alligators typically mate in the early spring and will lay eggs in late June or early July in pits that are between 7 and 10 feet in length and 2 to 3 feet in depth. The nests are then covered with vegetation to provide warmth for the eggs.
Kessler said that with the recent flooding, they have seen more wildlife moving away from their usual habitat, whether it be alligator or deer. Despite this, he said, they have not gotten an unusually high number of nuisance calls.
“The best advice I can give is the same for any wild animal,” he said. “Is just leave it alone.”
That is what Lawrence says that he is going to do as well, although now he is going to be a little more cautious when he goes into the yard.