It’s the great gator getaway!
A 6-foot alligator was spotted casually strolling around a Virginia motel in the early morning hours Monday, shocking cops who responded to the runaway reptile in a hilarious video.
The scaly beast was seen aimlessly wandering around the exterior of a motel in Fairfax County, just 20 miles outside of Washington, DC.
Frantic vacationers called in the gator sighting after it turned up outside their motel room door. Fairfax County Police responded shortly after midnight and were blown away when they came face-to-face with the 6-foot reptile.
“Damn! That is an alligator! There is actually an alligator outside the hotel,” a cop said in disbelief.
The officer’s body camera captured the moment he stopped dead in his tracks after spotting the alligator before inching to the edge of the property.
The cop lingered a few feet away and tried to estimate how big the creature was, figuring that if he “lay down next to it,” the gator would be roughly 6 feet long.
Other curious bystanders tried to take a peek as the officer eventually managed to lead the surprisingly cooperative reptile away from the motel.
“Uh, I would bring your dog inside – there’s an alligator over here,” he said.
“I know, I want to see it,” the person insisted.
The out-of-place alligator had made a break from its owner while at a rest stop, according to cops. The owner was driving the scaly pet from New York to a zoo in North Carolina.
Even after reuniting the gator with its owner, Virginia law required that the unusual duo be led out of the county.
In Virginia, it’s a misdemeanor for anyone who owns an exotic reptile “to keep the reptile in any manner that will permit its escape or to knowingly permit the reptile to run at large,” according to Virginia Code.
Fairfax County also bans any animals considered exotic, save for special circumstances, including elephant riding, according to the county website.
The Old Dominion State has had a number of wild animal snafus recently.
In March, the Virginia Zoological Park had to squash a rumor that one of its gorillas escaped after locals mistook their mascot for a real primate.
Last year, a herd of escaped goats and sheep caused chaos after gallivanting across an interstate in Virginia.
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