Airmen at a Florida Air Force base found an unexpected visitor at the base this week — an alligator lounging on the tarmac.
The Associated Press reported Thursday that personnel at the base used a front-end loader to remove a large alligator which had apparently emerged from a nearby pond. The scaly creature was found on the runway, where it was blocking aircraft from using the landing strip.
{mosads}The base’s office wildlife manager later transported the alligator via bucket from the front end loader safely off the base’s property.
A spokesman for the base said that such incidents are common at the Florida location, where large alligators roam free in shallow bodies of water.
The base shared a photo of the incident on Facebook, joking that the large reptile was “preparing for take-off.”
The photo comes just months after a Texas mayor went viral for shooting a 12-foot alligator on her ranch, claiming that the shooting was an act of revenge for the animal killing one of her horses years ago.