An alligator strolled down Northwest 67th Avenue in Miami Lakes on Wednesday, drawing a crowd of drivers who slowed down to snap photos as the reptile ambled along the pavement. At one point, a driver tried nudging the animal off the road using a tow truck, but the gator held its ground and remained on the street.
The sighting was captured on video and posted to social media, showing motorists passing the alligator while others stopped to take pictures, according to WSVN 7News. The outlet, which first reported the encounter Wednesday, said the alligator’s ultimate outcome was unclear — it’s not known whether the animal wandered off on its own, was captured by wildlife officials, or something else entirely.
Nudging a wild alligator with a vehicle, even one as large as a tow truck, is not without legal risk. Under Florida Statute § 379.409, intentionally capturing, harassing, or attempting to physically interfere with a wild alligator without a state permit is a third-degree felony, punishable by up to five years in prison and a $5,000 fine, according to Florida’s statutes.
Why Miami Lakes Keeps Seeing Gators on Its Streets
Miami Lakes wasn’t built by accident around water. The town was master-planned by the Graham family starting in 1962 on former dairy farmland and engineered around 23 artificial lakes connected by drainage canals that tie into South Florida’s broader waterway network, according to The Miami Laker. Those interconnected canals function as ready-made travel corridors for wildlife moving between wetlands and neighborhoods…