7-foot alligator captured in Wake County pond relocated to southeastern NC

Cassie Fish, who lives beside the pond on Hilltop Road east of U.S. Highway 401, said her family called the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission and requested they capture the gator for its own safety.

Greg Batts, a wildlife biologist with the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission, told WRAL News the alligator, a 7.5 foot long female, took officers two weeks to capture. It was finally captured Monday morning with a Murphy trap, which uses bait and a bungee cord-style netting to attract and restrain alligators.

Batts said the alligator was transported to southeastern North Carolina, where it was released into the wild. According to Batts, the alligator is at prime breeding age, and the hope is that she will find a mate and reproduce in her new environment.

Batts believes the alligator had been living in the pond, surviving off frogs, snakes, turtles and fish, for more than a decade. Since it is illegal in North Carolina to possess any native species of wildlife as a pet, Batts believes someone brought the gator to Fuquay-Varina years ago.

“We want people to know that we do not have native alligators in Wake County,” Batts said. “Alligators live along the southeastern coast of North Carolina and never come this far inland."

Batts said the rural, secluded area around the pond helped the alligator live peacefully in Wake County for years, but new developments popping up around the pond are bringing more people to the area.

"We’ve had many people fish [there] and even had cows in the same pasture and pond up until a few years ago," Fish said. "No problems ever occurred."

Fish said the alligator was originally her neighbor's pet. It was kept inside a tank in the neighbor's home, but when it grew too large, the neighbors released it into the pond behind Fish's home, where it spent its adult life.

According to Fish, when people learned of the alligator, someone tried to shoot it, and it was clear a change was needed.

"For the alligator's safety we found it best to relocate her," Fish said.

Now, neighbors and wildlife officials hope the alligator will live happily and safely in its new home. According to Batts, before the gator was released, it was outfitted with a satellite transmitter that will help researchers study it for years to come.

Batts said only one legal alligator hunt has been reported in North Carolina, which occurred in Hyde County in 2018. No more hunts are planned, and no one holds an alligator permit to hunt at this time.

Woman finds alligators in surf at North Topsail Beach

It is unclear how those alligators made it to the beach, but according to the National Ocean Service, they can tolerate salt water for a few hours or even days.