Alligator captured at Macon McDonald’s after gaining popularity online

MACON, Ga. (WPGA) - An alligator sighting outside of a McDonald’s in Macon is gaining a lot of attention online.

The alligator was located outside of the McDonald’s on Rocky Creek Road in Macon. After videos and pictures of the animal began to gain popularity on social media, more and more people went to see it for themselves.

Alexus Sparks, her friend Acacia Rene, and musical artist Lord D’Andre were among those who went to the McDonald’s to see the gator.

Rene then started a Facebook Live.

“People came up and they were like, ‘We just left your live video, we just left your live video.’ I was like, ‘Oh yeah, everyone just came out to see the gator, make sure it got caught,’” said Rene.

Some people were more focused on wrangling and relocating the animal. Lord D’Andre and others took matters into their own hands.

D’Andre said he and others decided to act because law enforcement hadn’t yet assisted in the situation.

“I threw my jacket over it, he put the slipknot over his neck and then I grabbed the back of the string and walked him like a pit bull,” Lord D’Andre said. “It was a lot of people here, yeah, but they didn’t actually come until after they seen us actually wrangling and interacting with the alligator, after they seen it could be a potential danger.”

The Bibb County Sheriff’s Office says they got a call Sunday at 4:38 p.m. and deputies and the Department of Natural Resources responded to the scene. The DNR was assisted by a trapper who was able to recover the alligator and remove it from the area.

“To me, it really was wholesome. The community really did come together,” said Rene.

“I was outside for like an hour and a half today, and at least five, six, seven people came up to me and said, ‘The Alligator Man!’” said Lord D’Andre.

The alligator has been relocated, and the sheriff’s office says no injuries were reported.

WPGA reached out to the sheriff’s office to learn more about law enforcement’s involvement in the incident and a response to citizens taking action themselves.

Capt. Linda Howard said in an email reply that deputies responded and made animal control aware of where the alligator was.

“At that time, the alligator was not a threat to anyone, and if it was left alone, it would have gone back into the swamp. During this time, animal control was in contact with DNR attempting to get further assistance in removing the alligator,” Howard said.

Howard said while people were able to tape the alligator’s mouth, “no one there had a plan on what they were going to do with the alligator.”

“Animal control was not made aware by citizens that they were going to attempt to do this, which animal control would have discouraged. Citizens put themselves at risk of being attacked or injured by the alligator,” Howard said. “Once deputies responded back to the scene and noticed several citizens attempting to capture the alligator animal control was made aware and deputies were asked by animal control to secure the scene to keep the citizens away from the alligator, which was not a threat to them, but the citizens became a threat to the alligator and the alligator now became a threat when they decided to capture it with no plan of where and how they were going to relocate it.”

Said Howard: “Instead several people decided they were going to risk injury or death to take selfies with the alligator.”

Howard said the sheriff’s office has not experienced an incident like this.

“We are unsure why people decided they would put themselves at risk for a photo op with a live and dangerous alligator,” she said.