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Giant Alligator Measuring 13ft Found In Ditch In US

Giant Alligator Measuring 13ft Found In Ditch In US

People initially thought pics of the giant gator were faked

Claire Reid

Claire Reid

An absolutely massive alligator - weighing more than 300kg - was recently found in a ditch in the US.

Photos of the giant gator, which measured 4m (13ft) were shared online but many people thought it was hoax, due to its mind-blowing size. But now the wildlife biologist Brent Howze has confirmed that it was definitely real and definitely bloody huge.

The alligator was found in an irrigation ditch by a local resident near Lake Blackshear in Georgia who reported it to authorities.


When Howze and the team arrived they were expecting to find it to be no more than 3m (10ft) in length, but when they finally got it out and measured it they found it had a chest girth of a whopping 1.5m (4'9ft) and weighed 317kg (700lbs).

Howze, who works for Georgia's Department of Natural Resource,told the Cordele Dispatch: "Apparently a lot of people think it's fake, but I can assure you that it is not.

"I'm the one in the picture, and you can probably tell that I didn't get too close to it.

"It took a while to get it out of that ditch. It was bigger than we originally anticipated and we had to use heavy equipment to move it,"

Melissa Cummings, who also works at Georgia's Department of Natural Resource, told Fox: "It's a testament to Georgia's alligator-management program that alligators can grow to this size."

"Brent estimated that the animal had been in the irrigation ditch for close to a week, which is very unusual behaviour," Cummings said.

The gator was taken out of the ditch where it was checked over by animal experts, who later euthanized it due to poor health.

"It was a very old alligator in poor body condition with what appeared to be gunshot wounds," Howze said. "It's an unfortunate situation, but the best thing for the animal was to put it down."


Howze was quick to stress that people shouldn't worry about going into the lake - and that gators like this one pose 'almost no threat to humans'.

He added: "There's only one way for an alligator to live this long, and it's by avoiding humans. I'll be in the water at Lake Blackshear this summer for sure."

Speaking to WALB TV he explained: "You're perfectly safe.

"These animals exist, they've been here for centuries, they've been existing with people for centuries and they're going to continue to."

Featured Image Credit: Georgia's Department for Natural Resources

Topics: Weird, Animals, US

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