Saturday, September 15, 2007

Can we keep it?



The three of them had spent Labor Day, September 3 2007, fishing without any luck. They were headed back to the boatlaunch near Mine Falls, on the Nashua River NH, when their luck suddenly changed.

Anthony Grauslys, 40 of Hudson NH, his 9 year-old son, Ash and Steve Summers, their neighbor hadn't caught a thing all day until Graulys's line snagged something. He initially had thought a pickerel had grabbed his hook and rubber worm and he fought it up to the boat. It only took one look he said, to realize he hadn't caught a prize-winning fish.



"We're city cops. We don't know what to do with these things," stated Lt Bruce Hansen.

Grauslys stated that he realized he had dragged in an alligator and he knew that he could just release it again, since no one would probably want an alligator hanging around. Him and his fishing crew headed for the dock with the alligator fighting the whole way. By the time they had made it to the dock, three Nashua police officers had arrived put the alligator in a large utility box, half filled with water.

The state Fish and Game conservation officer, David Eskeland, stated that the 18 inch, approximately 1 year-old, american alligator is now safe in a Massachusetts facility that handles reptiles. He stated that it would not have survived the winter months and temperatures if it had stayed in the river. They could only guess that it had possibly outgrown someone's bathtub and that was why it was dumped in the river.

Grauslys didn't have to turn the alligator over to Eskeland, it is legal for New Hampshire residents to own an alligator. I'm sure that his neighbors wouldn't be that happy to see him taking it out for a "daily walk" though.

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