Alligator makes self at home in northwest drain
For the past five days, Chris Robertson has had an unwanted guest near his northwest Cape Coral home — an 8-foot alligator.
Robertson found the alligator under a drainage swale near his home Sunday afternoon.
“It’s 50 feet from the front door,” he said.
Robertson called the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission to extract the creature, but was told it could not do anything without the written permission of the city of Cape Coral because the drainage ditch lies in a city right of way.
City spokesperson Connie Baron said Thursday she is unsure whether the city’s written permission is necessary for the alligator’s removal.
When an alligator was found in a storm drain on Santa Barbara Boulevard by construction workers in January, the FWC sent an alligator trapper to the site the same day.
Robertson followed up with the FWC Thursday, but was told his case has yet to be reviewed.
Meanwhile, Robertson said he is not phased by the alligator’s presence, but that the creature is likely to die if something is not done.
“He’s right in the pipe. He can’t get out. It’s 500 yards to the nearest canal and he can’t back out the whole way,” he said.
Robertson added that he would extract the alligator himself, but he does not want to get in trouble for disturbing it.
“I would just throw a rope around its mouth and drag it out, but I don’t want to get fined for harassing the alligator,” Robertson said.