Live alligator discovered in back of SUV during Florida traffic stop, officials say

Writhing burlap bags easily raise suspicion during traffic stops, but live alligators are not what cops expect to find inside.

Yet that happened when a North Florida sheriff’s deputy stopped an SUV in Cross City on Nov. 9, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. Cross City is in Dixie County, about 150 miles northwest of Tampa.

“The alligator was being kept in the rear of the vehicle in a burlap bag,” FWC officials said in an incident report. “The driver of the vehicle ... informed me that he caught the alligator on a paved road as it was crossing.”

Investigators did not say what prompted the traffic stop or how Deputy Talon Reed reacted at finding an alligator in a bag.

The driver was a 35-year-old resident of Old Town, about 9 miles east of Cross City, and he offered an explanation that centered on concern for the 3-foot alligator’s safety, officials said.

“He feared that the alligator was going to get run over by a vehicle,” the report stated. “He then said that he was going to take the alligator to a private pond ... and release it.”

The driver “stated that he knew that he was not allowed to legally possess the alligator,” officials said.

He was charged with “unlawful possession of alligator,” FWC officials said.

“The alligator was seized as evidence and later photographed and released alive in a safe area,” officials said.

This story was originally published November 29, 2023 at 10:23 AM with the headline "Live alligator discovered in back of SUV during Florida traffic stop, officials say."