But instead of trying to get to the front of the line Wednesday, this 8-foot alligator was heading toward a nearby pond just before 6 a.m. CT and about a half hour before sunrise. Officers arrived, found the gator in the parking lot and called officials with Texas Parks & Wildlife Department to help it get to a more suitable spot, said Capt. Lynn Pearce of the Aransas Pass Police Department.
"We have a few alligators, but we have not seen one this big," Pearce said.
Though a lot of Aransas Pass, about 15 miles northeast of Corpus Christi, is on the slightly salty Aransas Bay, the Walmart store is about 3 miles from shore. Alligators are usually found in freshwater because they don't have the glands to tolerate salt water for long periods.
The Walmart alligator is about average for a female, according to the Smithsonian's National Zoo & Conservation Biology Institute in Washington. The average male is a little more than 11 feet long.
The officers who wrestled this gator didn't say whether it was a male or female.
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