The Alligator of Altoona

[Story]

When reports of an alligator prowling a Pennsylvania river started coming in to state wildlife officials, they went out on the water to track it down.

They had a photo to go on, taken along the Frankstown Branch Juniata River, but with no sense of scale, they wouldn’t know the size of the alligator until they saw it for themselves, the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission said in a March 12 social media post.

A wildlife officer and game warden went to the area the gator was seen, scouring a roughly half-mile stretch of the river, the post said.

The alligator wasn’t moving, the officer said. While alligators are known for being sedentary animals, the critter’s behavior still struck the officer as odd.

“Peering under the roots, I could make out the rest of the body,” the officer said. “I grabbed it by the tail and discovered the alligator that was terrorizing the Frankstown Branch Juniata River was, in fact, a 3-foot-long rubber toy.”

https://cc.bingj.com/cache.aspx?q=Al...SofcW4nPlHfLpG

[bogey1]

How doe's a toy terrorize a community? This is why they are called fake news.

[scoutjoe]

So the Miami Herald covered it but it missed all the local news stations/paper. Makes total sense.

I'll have to give him a hard time the next time I see him.

[Story]

So the Miami Herald covered it but it missed all the local news stations/paper. Makes total sense.

Mitchell Willetts wrote the article for McClatchy, so it just depends on which newspapers decide to run that story.

I'll have to give him a hard time the next time I see him.

Him who?

[JaySmith]

They had a photo to go on,

IT'S A GOOD THING THEY HAD A PHOTO, OTHERWISE THEY MAY HAVE MISTAKEN THE ALIGATOR FOR SOMETHING ELSE.

"Hey Jim, that over there, is that an alligator?"
"No, Frank, that's a deer."

[scoutjoe]

Him who?

The PAFBC officer in the photo

[Story]

IT'S A GOOD THING THEY HAD A PHOTO, OTHERWISE THEY MAY HAVE MISTAKEN THE ALIGATOR FOR SOMETHING ELSE.

"Hey Jim, that over there, is that an alligator?"
"No, Frank, that's a deer."