A Georgia deputy was charged at by a large hissing alligator — and authorities later spotted the reptile via drone.
The Hall County Sheriff’s Office deputy was with the office’s K-9 teams, conducting a training exercise on Tuesday, when the encounter occurred, police said on social media. The training exercise was being conducted near a pond, the sheriff’s office said.
The deputy “heard a hissing sound,” police said, and when he looked up, he saw the alligator with its mouth open.
The gator then charged the deputy, who avoided it by running up an embankment. Police said he was able to “evade the animal” and was not injured in the incident, which was reported to the state’s Department of Natural Resources. The deputy estimated that the alligator was between seven and nine feet long.
Drone photo and video shows the alligator submerged in muddy water, unmoving. The images were captured by a lieutenant with the sheriff’s office on Wednesday, police said.
Alligators are not naturally found in north Georgia, with the state’s Wildlife Resources Division noting that ones in the area “have probably been relocated there by humans.” It’s not clear how this alligator entered the area. The sheriff’s office said that it is encouraging citizens to take precautions around the area where the alligator was seen, including the pond and a nearby stream. Warning signs will also be installed in the area, police said.
Alligator attacks on humans in Georgia are rare, with only nine such reported incidents from 1980 to July 2023, according to the Wildlife Resources Division. Just one of those attacks was fatal. Six incidents occured when a human stepped on or made contact with a submerged alligator. The remaining three attacks were “a result of the alligator possibly mistaking the human for prey,” the agency said.
