An over 11-foot alligator was found in a neighborhood on Houston Avenue, officials say. Is this normal?

An alligator more than 11 feet long was found in a neighborhood on Houston Avenue on Tuesday.

The alligator took about eight people to wrangle, Lt. Joseph Pettway, a former Florida wildlife trapper, estimated, but even more assisted with the situation. To pull the gator out of the woodline where it was found, officials had to lasso a rope around the gator’s mouth. After the gator was lassoed, it took three people to pull it out. Five firefighters were involved, four of whom held the gator down and one who controlled the rope, and then two to three animal enforcement personnel.

Bibb County Sheriff’s Office Animal Services, BCSO Patrol Division deputies, and Station 7 of the Macon Bibb County Fire Department worked together to help capture, detain and relocate the gator.

“(The alligator) could have been out searching for a new area or even just a food source. You know, it’s really hard to tell. I was just kind of surprised he made it as far as he did without being seen earlier,” Pettway said.

The gator was found about a mile away from the nearest water source, animal enforcement officer Rebecca Galeazzo said. She said alligators are known to travel around five to 10 miles to look for a new habitat or for a female during mating season.

The gator was relocated to a location approved by the state’s Department of Natural Resources. Galeazzo emphasized that gators are not relocated into public swimming areas.

Is this out of the ordinary?

In the past month, Animal Enforcement has responded to, captured and relocated 11 alligators, Sgt. Christopher Williams said.

Galeazzo said that it is not out of the ordinary to have so many gator findings this time of year.

“Last summer was actually out of the ordinary because we only had a couple of calls for alligators, but that was due to the weather staying cold well into the spring, so it kind of upset breeding season last year. But typically, the year before last, I stopped counting at 50 alligators,” Galeazzo said.

The number of gator findings has increased because a lot of gators have been displaced due to industrial construction on the south side of town, Galeazzo explained. In addition to displacement, alligators are more prevalent this time of year because of breeding.

Alligator breeding season typically runs from March to around August. During this time, dominant male alligators establish territories with females. The breeding process involves a courtship that lasts about three weeks before mating. Males may compete for territory and mates, with smaller or beta males often being pushed out of prime breeding areas, said Kristin Zemaitis, biologist and graduate of the University of Georgia Odum School.

Zemaitis specializes as a herpetologist, studying reptiles and amphibians, with extensive experience working with various species including alligators. She led a study about mercury concentrations in American alligators in the Peach State along with other researchers from ecology schools at the University of Georgia and Clemson University.

The rainy weather Macon has had recently could also be part of the explanation for the increased gator findings, Zemaitis said.

“When it’s wetter, it just provides more avenues for (alligators) to travel. So it’s easier for them to travel in like a creek that’s flooded, or across the flood plain rather than dry land because they are mostly aquatic, and so it just creates more continuity,” Zemaitis said.

If you encounter a gator in Macon, animal enforcement officials say not to approach them. Instead, call 911, which will contact the appropriate agencies to remove and relocate the alligator.

This story was originally published July 3, 2025 at 4:42 PM.