Alligator Mortality Project: Motorists hit 10-foot gator on US Hwy. 441

Motorists hit 10-foot gator on US Hwy. 441
By Billy Hobbs Oct 26, 2020
https://www.unionrecorder.com/news/motorists-hit-10-foot-gator-on-us-hwy-441/article_1e520680-17af-11eb-9021-cf5dfa5cdb35.html

A 10-foot alligator, weighing approximately 400 pounds, was struck and killed by motorists on U.S. Highway 441 South in Baldwin County on Sunday morning, authorities say. “The alligator was on the roadway when the car hit it,” according to Game Warden Sgt. Bo Kelly of the Georgia Department of Natural Resources Law Enforcement Division.

This 10-foot long, approximately 400-pound alligator, was hit and killed by multiple motorists along U.S. Highway 441 South, near C&B Processing in Baldwin County on Sunday morning. Photo courtesy of Georgia Department of Natural Resources Game Warden Sgt. Bo Kelly.

The gator, one of the largest seen in Baldwin County in quite some time, is believed to have come from one of the two big ponds owned by the Georgia Forestry Commission in the area, Kelly told The Union-Recorder during a telephone interview Monday. “There are some gators in those ponds,” Kelly said. “Baldwin County has a number of alligators in the river, and that’s pretty much how they end up in those ponds. The Oconee River is eaten up with them.”

Kelly surmised that because of all of the rain that fell Saturday night and into Sunday morning, the gator could have crawled out onto the roadway to warm up. “A lot of times when water in ponds get cooler, reptiles like alligators will go to a highway and lay on it to get warm from the heat off the pavement,” Kelly said.

Baldwin County Sheriff’s Office Deputy Brandon Towe said the sheriff’s office received several calls concerning the alligator laying in the busy roadway. While en route to the scene, the deputy said he was advised by a 911 dispatcher that multiple vehicles had run over the reptile and that one of the vehicles had become disabled.

A 2005 Mini Cooper driven by Madeline Regan Soles, of Dublin, was among those that hit the alligator, according to an accident investigation report filed by Towe. Soles was driving northbound when she spotted the reptile in her path. “The driver stated she was unable to react in time to avoid a collision with what was later determined to be an alligator,” Towe said in his report. A wrecker service from Dublin was called to the scene to tow away the damaged car. The mishap occurred about 7:15 a.m. while it was still dark and raining, the deputy said.

Posted on 15 de maio de 2021, 07:19 PM by williamwisephoto