An 8-foot long alligator blocked traffic on Wednesday morning over the Fred Hartman Bridge along Highway 146 as cars were trying to make their way to work.
The gator was seen lounging on the bridge along a shoulder lane headed northbound before officials were able to get there and remove it.
The Harris County Precinct 8 deputies, Baytown police, and state wildlife officers were all called out to the scene to handle the situation.
Officials say it’s the first time a gator’s ever crawled onto the bridge that they can remember and this one was very reluctant to leave. It backed away as authorities approach it and they eventually had to use a rope to get it under some sort of control.
The gator rolled and thrashed around on the concrete until a couple of wildlife officers were able to jump on its back and hold it down properly. At this point, they were able to tape the gator’s legs and mouth up before carefully putting it in the back of a truck.
After that, the animal was taken just a short distance to the end of the bridge where it was released on the grassy bank of a small tributary adjacent to the ship channel.
Facebook page Harris County Precinct 8 Constable’s Office shared some photos of the gator on the bridge, being wrangled and being placed in the back of the truck. You can view all those photos in their post below. There’s also a video filmed from a helicopter of the gator doing the “death roll” that you can watch below as well.