Alligator living with tape around its mouth freed and relocated

BRANDON, Fla. (Gray News) – An alligator that has been living with its mouth taped shut since December was finally relocated this week after several attempts to trap it.

Amber Lock sounded the alarm on Facebook in January, posting photos of the alligator and its taped snout.

Lock said neighbors noticed the tape in December when the alligator had been living in a fenced retention pond.

She said a trapper had come out but didn’t finish the job.

“After multiple calls to Florida Fish and Wildlife and Hillsborough County, Florida Government over the past month, the gator is STILL being tortured and nobody has come to rescue it,” she wrote in her plea on Facebook.

Trappers successfully coaxed the female alligator, dubbed Georgie, out of the retention pond this week.

She was relocated to Gatorama, an animal park and alligator farm in Palmdale.

“She is doing well so far and will be offered a feeding as soon as the day warms up,” Gatorama General Manager Ben Register said in a statement Friday. “Even though she probably won’t eat for a few days due to the stress of being moved and the ordeal she been through.”

Register said Georgie will have her own pond, away from larger groups of alligators, so she won’t have to compete for food or territory until she is bigger and stronger.

Gatorama is home to many relocated nuisance alligators, which would otherwise have to be killed.

According to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation, released nuisance alligators often try to return to their capture site.

They also can’t be released into more remote areas, where existing alligator populations have established territories and social structures, which would likely lead to fighting and possibly death.

Copyright 2023 Gray Media Group, Inc. All rights reserved. TMX contributed to this report.