Alligators are fairly common in the South. Just take a look at Florida where it seems an alligator is in spitting distance at all times. But they're much less common in the North and West. So, when a Washington State town suspected they had an alligator in their midst, they freaked out. The only problem is no one told them that it was fake.
That's right, a small town freaked out over a fake gator. Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife officials responded to calls about the reptile in a Cowlitz County lake. Upon arriving at the scene, in a video posted by the WDFW Police, Officer Blaine Corey went about looking for the reptile.
Initially, he thought that the alligator was dead.
'Want to see an alligator?' a man greeted the officer at the scene. The two then approached the reptile. They questioned whether the reptile was just pretending to be dead.
Washington Alligator
'Is that an alligator —Is that a fake? Is it a toy?' the man asked. The officer quickly said that he wanted to see if the reptile would move. But a few moments later that tension was broken by laughter and hilarity. Both men quickly realized that the gator was fake. The officer ended up pulling it out of the water with a stick.
"Yeah, that's fake," Corey laughed. 'Its tail's not even attached to it. It's zip-tied onto it. Someone obviously likes to mess with people, though."
The local authorities had some fun with the fake alligator on social media afterward.
The Facebook post joked, "Nice try MyFWC Florida Fish and Wildlife - please come and get your pet. Alligators are not native to Washington State and could not establish a population in the region because of its cool climate. As a reminder, releasing non-native species into Washington State waters is illegal, not to mention inhumane to the species who cannot survive in our habitats."
Related Content
As they point out, it's far too cold for the reptiles to live in Washington State.
Northwest Sportsman Magazine shared the video, "Well, that's one way to keep people out of your secret fishin' hole."
