Alligator Spotted In Niles Canyon Creek
FREMONT (CBS SF) – Todd Myers could hardly believe his eyes.
There sitting on a rock in a creek off a hiking trail in Niles Canyon was a 4 1/2-foot-long alligator sunning itself.
"This is crazy," he said of the encounter as he walked with his two teenage daughters. "Craziest thing I've ever seen."
To make sure others would believe him, Myers shot cellphone video of the gator.
"He was kind of looking at us and every once in awhile he would move his right leg," Myers said. "I got a video of it. And we just watched him for about 20 minutes. And then he slithered off."
Myers called the authorities and led them back to the creek bed.
"I brought them back," he said. "The alligator was back on the rock. So then we went to the other side of the bushes ... We went the long way around and then we tried to hike back inside and come in behind it. And soon as we came up behind him, he moved back into the water."
A city of Fremont Animal Services officer confirmed the sighting to KPIX 5.
Alligators are not native to California so the gator may have been set loose by someone who kept it as a pet.
Alameda County Sheriff's Office taking over the search for the gator and it was located at 11:30 a.m. Tuesday and turned over to agents from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
