Region holds a long history of exotic critters turning up in odd places

From someone finding a python on a front porch to a man catching an alligator in his front yard, it's been an unusual month for wildlife reports in the Cape Girardeau area.

But the discoveries, while rare, aren't unprecedented.

The Missouri Department of Conversation was contacted Thursday when a Cape Girardeau man found an alligator in the front yard of his home on Giboney Street.

When a conservation agent returned the call, the man didn't answer, said Matt Bowyer, a wildlife regional supervisor for the conservation department. The alligator was released by the caller before the department contacted him again.

"As with any kind of exotic wildlife like that -- anything that is not native to the state -- the best thing is to contact us, the Department of Conservation, and let us know you found it," said Bowyer, adding the department then will decide where to relocate the animal.

Bowyer said alligators are not native to the state and cannot survive Missouri winters. It's unknown exactly from where the alligator came, he said, but the caller told the department it might have belonged to a neighbor.

"It's illegal to release captive wildlife into the wild like that," Bowyer said, adding that the department is looking into the situation.

At about 4 feet long, the alligator might have been a caiman, which is a relatively small crocodilian, Bowyer said.

"But, regardless, those animals are dangerous, and we caution folks from ever picking something up like that," he said.

Attempts by the Southeast Missourian to reach the man who found the alligator were unsuccessful Friday.

On July 2, the Cape Girardeau Police Department received a call that a python about 2 feet long had been found on a front porch on Whitener Street. It's unknown where the python came from, and it was ultimately taken to the Humane Society of Southeast Missouri.

Past encounters

"Alligator hunting Cape LaCroix style" was the first sentence in a photo caption that appeared in the Sept. 18, 1956, edition of the Southeast Missourian.

The gator hunt took place at Cape LaCroix Creek, when a man from St. Louis inadvertently left open a door to a truck that housed two alligators. He was in town for the district fair, archives said, and performed with the alligators at the carnival.

When the man and his assistant found one of the gators was missing, they contacted authorities, and residents were told to stay away from the animal if it was spotted.

The 180-pound gator was found in a deep hole of water in the creek and captured. The owner said he was thankful the other, 200-pound gator didn't escape, as well.

In October 1952, an alligator was observed sunning itself on a sandbar in the Mississippi River at Cape Girardeau. Newspaper archives say the gator had made its way up the river from more natural habitat or had escaped locally.

Another story dates to 1922, when a man caught a 15-inch alligator in the Mississippi River. A local store owner pickled the alligator in alcohol and had it on display at his store.

In August 2012, a python 4 to 5 feet long was discovered by Chaffee, Missouri, school officials at the high-school football field, according to Southeast Missourian archives. They got the snake trapped in a trash can within a few minutes, and the owners who lived nearby claimed it as a pet.

And as for rumors, some say an alligator owned by Dr. Dan Cotner was lost in the tunnels running beneath Southeast Missouri State University during the 1940s and 1950s.

In 2004, Cotner told the Southeast Missourian when the Army called him away in 1942, he left his pet alligator to be watched over by Dr. Bolen in the university's old science building. For at least three years, the alligator lived there.

Cotner said Navy ROTC students would let the alligator run loose on the basement floor, not far from one of the entrances to the tunnels that linked the campus.

One day, while still in the service, Cotner said he received a communication from Dr. Bolen, asking whether it would be OK for the alligator to be sent away and its skeleton used for scientific study. Cotner gave the OK, and he assumed that is what happened to it. But he isn't sure, because he never did see the skeleton.

"I don't think the alligator ever got into the tunnels," Cotner said with a smile.

klamb@semissourian.com

388-3639

Pertinent address:

Cape Girardeau, Mo.