(WSVN) - An alligator was spotted in a Florida pond with its mouth taped shut.
Amber Lock, who lives in the area, kept an eye on it and hoped rescue crews could help the animal soon.
“I just think about what he’s gonna eat when he finally has that tape removed,” she said.
Lock said since December this alligator has been in her Hillsborough County neighborhood pond in this condition.
“Whoever attempted to trap him and put the tape around his mouth clearly lost him and that’s what started this,” said Lock, “But no there were no issues we haven’t had like any animals hurt.”
She contacted her Home Owner’s Association, Florida Fish and Wildlife and other local trappers in hopes of finding a solution, but it has not been easy due to permit restrictions.
“I feel that this animal has been suffering for two months and that’s just unacceptable,” said Lock.
Martha Rivera is an expert with the Everglades Outpost Sanctuary and she said the alligator is being affected by the tape being wrapped around its mouth.
“He loses body mass. He gets dehydrated,” she said. “You know, if this gator is in a retention pond, the trapper that went out there should definitely not have left him, especially with the tape on the mouth. Then you also have the fact, too, that that tape messes up their skin.”
She mentioned an alligator’s mouth is usually taped shut for safety during transport, but it’s not meant to be on long-term.
“Someone needs to go back out there and get this alligator,” said Rivera. “There’s no way that you could just leave it there with its mouth taped shut. It’s inhumane as well.”
Lock is determined to help the alligator.
“I made a vow to myself that I would not stop until he gets rescued because it’s just so wrong,” she said.
FWC has contracts with alligator trappers to remove the reptiles in situations like this.
No word yet on what is next for this alligator.
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