An alligator was spotted roaming around outside a motel in Northern Virginia overnight Monday, alarming police bodycam video shows.
Dispatch calls and bodycam video captured the moment Fairfax County officers learned of the gator, estimated to be 6 feet long.
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WATCH HERE“Damn! That is an alligator!” an officer said as he apparently laid eyes on the creature. “There is actually an alligator outside the hotel.”
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SIGN UP The gator was spotted in the 5900 block of Richmond Highway (Route 1), just south of the Beltway. Officers responded to the motel at 12:10 a.m. after a caller reported seeing the alligator outside their room.
Video shows the gator walking outside room doors that opened to the parking lot.
“The alligator is on the move, passing Room 16,” someone can be heard saying on a dispatch call.
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“Be advised: They say it’s going to the entrance of the hotel now,” they say.
An officer can be heard warning someone to steer clear.
“Uh, I would bring your dog inside – there’s an alligator,” he said.
“No, I want to see him!” the person replied.
Animal protection officers assisted.
“We do have the owners of the alligator,” an officer says on a dispatch call. “They advised that is their pet that they are taking to a zoo.”
Police confirmed they found the alligator’s owner.
“Through their investigation, it was determined that the owner was transporting the alligator from New York to North Carolina to a zoo,” police said in a statement.
The alligator and its owner were “safely escorted out of the county,” the police statement said. It wasn’t immediately clear where they went.
Virginia law says it’s a misdemeanor for the owner of an exotic reptile “to keep the reptile in any manner that will permit its escape or to knowingly permit the reptile to run at large.” Fairfax County’s website says animals considered exotic are not permitted.
Victoria Rivera contributed reporting.
