Allen Park family finds alligator in backyard pond

ALLEN PARK, Mich. (WJBK) - This could be a first for the Allen Park Police Department. Someone reported an intruder -- but this one had four legs and scales. 

She discovered an alligator in her backyard in the 15500 block of Horger Avenue Monday afternoon.

"When she was walking out to her garage, she saw it in the corner of her eye," said neighbor Frances McKelvie.

"All she sees is it jump in the pond and she's like, what the heck was that," said neighbor Blake Martin.

She dialed 911 for someone to get the gator. Allen Park police arrived but the officers don't wrangle reptiles, so they called the Critter Pet Shop.

"He goes, 'Can you get him out?'" said Jerry Swantner of Critter Pet Shop. "I said yeah, so I go in there - no net, barehanded, and I grab him."

Resident gator wrestler Jerry Swantner says this one measured about three feet long. And even though it's small, it's still plenty dangerous.

"I mean he's got a mouth full of teeth," Swantner said. "He's got a ton of teeth. If he was to clamp on, he'd definitely put marks on you."

Swantner thinks the gator was someone's pet that either got loose or was abandoned.

"It's kind of dangerous, especially since we have children that live here; we have my kids that live there," McKelvie said. "And it could've ended up in someone's backyard with kids."

The alligator was picked up and is now headed to an alligator sanctuary.