‘Ginormous’ 3-legged alligator captured in Texas neighborhood

A massive three-legged alligator was captured wandering through a Texas neighborhood early Sunday morning.

Cornealous Greigg Jr. said he spotted the enormous gator on the side of the road near his home in Missouri City, southwest of Houston, in the middle of the night.

“I saw his eyes. I didn’t see him, I saw his eyes. So, it made me do a U-turn, and then when I did the U-turn, I drove slow, and then I saw him,” Greigg told KTRK-TV. “He was ginormous. He was huge. I’ve never seen one that big up close.”

Greigg remained in his car and called 911.

Timothy DeRamus, known as Houston’s “gator wrangler,” arrived about an hour later. It took DeRamus about three hours to capture the gator, which clocked in at 11 feet long and 1,200 pounds. Officials estimated the gator, which is missing part of its front right leg, is about 85 years old.

A Facebook video shows the wrangler lifting the gator onto a truck. The gator was taken to Gator Country, an adventure park and sanctuary in Beaumont, according to the news station.

Greigg told KRIV-TV this was not his first run-in with an alligator; one has even turned up in his swimming pool.

“We see these animals pretty often,” he said. “If you don’t mess with him, he won’t mess with you.”

Gators aren’t unusual in Texas. Up to half a million live in the state, experts say. Most of them are in the southern and eastern parts of the state.

In September, a 12-foot gator was found resting beneath a man’s pickup truck in Atascocita, also outside Houston. They occasionally even turn up in North Texas. Last summer, a 3.5-foot alligator was found by a bank ATM in Lake Worth.