For the Gator Good: Cop Spots Log in Middle School Field, Realizes It's a 7-Foot-Long Reptile

A patrolling police officer received the shock of his life when what he thought was a log in a school field turned out to be a 7-foot-long alligator.

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Andre Riley from the Dallas Independent School District told InsideEdition.com that the alligator was first spotted outside of STEAM Middle School in the middle of the night.

Riley said a Dallas police officer first thought he noticed a log in the middle of the field, which he noted as odd since the entire area is flat lands.

"Turns out, it was a 7-foot alligator," Riley told InsideEdition.com.

The officer then contacted animal services and the game warden.

"This is considered a full grown adult male," Warden Tony Norton told InsideEdition.com. "This time of the year is breeding season, so they move around tributaries to mate."

In a video by Fox 4, the alligator can be seen putting up a fight as the game warden used a catch pole to get the animal under control, and taping its mouth shut.

Despite the apparent thrashing, Jamie Sanchez, the game warden called to the rescue, told Fox 4 that the capture went exactly as planned.

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"It didn't put up too much of a fight," Sanchez said to Fox 4, "we were able to get it into the back of my truck without hurting it."

By 4 a.m., two or three hours after the alligator was first spotted, Norton said the animal was being whisked away and released back into its natural habitat, safe from human interaction. 

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