Alligator caught lurking outside Dallas school

DALLAS - Texas Game Wardens and Dallas County Sheriff’s deputies worked together to capture an alligator at a school.

The animal somehow ended up on the grounds of a Dallas ISD’s STEAM Middle School near Interstate 20 and Polk Street in southern Dallas County early Wednesday morning.

It was captured with a catch pole. Wardens then taped its mouth shut.

Warden Jamie Sanchez said the capture went down just as it should.

“It's a defense mechanism, especially when we put the noose on it,” he said. “I think it would be pretty scary. Big alligator like that would scare anybody.”

Sanchez said alligators are fairly common in Dallas. His office does get a few calls every year for gators that are loose in neighborhoods.

But it is not yet clear where this 7-foot alligator came from.There are a few creeks in the area, but no obvious wetlands.

The animal will be released at a game preserve in southern Dallas County.