Earlier this week, a Florida alligator picked an unusual spot to rest—the tarmac at the MacDill Air Force Base. The gator even went so far as to park itself next to (and between) a plane’s tires. Totally normal.
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The Air Force Base posted photos on its Facebook page asking the public to add their own captions. Commentators rose to the occasion with things like:
“I said: ‘Chock the wheels, not Crock the wheels!‘”
“No one likes the new quality assurance officer. He tends to snap at people, but at least he has a thick skin.“
“If I fits, I sits.“
And “New addition to the K9 corp! He doesn’t bark, but sure will bite!“
The alligator put up a fight when the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) arrived to move it. In a video made public by USA Today, you can watch as FWC officials wrangle the gator, with difficulty.
Thankfully, the FWC prevailed, and the tarmac alligator is now safe in the Hillsborough River.
Alligators live all across the state of Florida, and sometimes they find their way into weird places, like people’s homes or, apparently, tarmacs.
Here are the FWC’s tips for co-existing with alligators.