Massive alligator booted from Florida Air Force Base after 2 infractions, officials say

A 12-foot, 4-inch alligator has been banished from MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, Florida, after getting caught twice in areas off limits to reptiles, according to gator wranglers.

This includes once being found hiding in the landing gear of an aircraft.

It is common for large “nuisance” alligators to be euthanized for their meat and hide, but something different happened in this case.

The alligator was hauled 155 miles southeast to Gatorama and Crocodile Adventures in Palmdale, where it will live out its days in the safety of a protected pond, according to a May 17 Gatorama Facebook post.

“This grand giant of an alligator ... was captured for a second time after first being released into the Hillsborough River,” Gatorama officials said.

“Isn’t he beautiful? ... We hate to see these big old bull alligators killed. The stories they tell must be amazing about how he survived to this length.”

MacDill Air Force Base reported May 15 the alligator had “returned for duty” outside the Med Group facility. The alligator — nicknamed Alli “Tiny” Gator — was previously found April 22 on a runway, hiding in the glanding gear of a KC-135 Stratotanker aircraft, the base said. MacDill personnel measured it at a slightly smaller 12 feet, 3 inches.

Either way, the gator is about a foot longer than average for males, experts say. However, it’s still shy of Florida’s state record of 14 feet, 3 1/2 inches, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. The heaviest caught in Florida was 1,043 pounds, the state says.

Gatorama is a tourist attraction known to adopt unwanted alligators deemed a nuisance by state wildlife officials. It named the new arrival Major MacDill.

“In my opinion as a former licensed nuisance alligator trapper for FWCC, seldom was the gator a genuine threat,” a Gatorama official wrote.

“However it is considered a matter of public safety and officials don’t want to take that chance with human life. Unless the trapper has an arrangement with a park or other licensed facility the gator is killed and sold for meat and leather to defray the trapper costs.”

This story was originally published May 20, 2024 at 9:29 AM with the headline "Massive alligator booted from Florida Air Force Base after 2 infractions, officials say."