Thanks to unseasonably warm weather, people in Fort Bend County may notice more alligators crawling out of the water to get a suntan.
Members of the Gator Squad removed a six-foot alligator named Heidi from Preena Thottumkal’s backyard Wednesday evening on Raintree Drive in Missouri City.
“I have two kids, a seven-month-old and a toddler, too, and they love to play outside,” said Thottumkal. “So we don’t have a fence here, so I’m always concerned, I’m scared of it, so obviously I’m scared with my kids if something goes wrong, oh my God I couldn’t imagine.”
The mother of two’s backyard backs up to a pond, where she found the gator sunbathing. She has the Gator Squad on speed dial because this is the fourth alligator they’ve caught since last year.
“They (The Gator Squad) always come, and yesterday when I called them, I think within an hour they were here, and luckily the gator was here, too; they got it right away,” said Thottumak.
Wyatt Pemberton with the Gator Squad said that because of the warm temperatures, they’ve been looking for gators in the Missouri City area.
“She (the alligator) put up a pretty good fight and a lot of hissing, but I think it's par for the course for being messed with and being hooked and being caught,” said Pemberton. “Her presence in the pond to a family with very little children is an automatic, human safety comes first and we automatically relocate it. So we did our thing got her off the bank and put her up on the truck.”
“They’re out here in nature, we’re going to be around them, we’re going to interact with them, you’re going to see them, but keep your distance,” suggested Pemberton.
He said the other big rule i snot to feed alligators and to stay away at least 30 feet away, since alligators can move pretty quickly.
“We can co-exist with these alligators in our eco system they do wonders for us. They eat snakes, they eat mice they eat rodents, they’re really good to have around,” said Pemberton.