BEAUMONT, Texas — People aren't the only ones trying to get away from the stifling Southeast Texas heat, as alligators across the region are doing anything they can to cool off. Which is at times putting them in close quarters with humans.
Alligator wrangler Eddie Hanhart spoke to 12News to shed some light on everywhere alligators are turning up.
"We're seeing a lot more alligators this year, definitely!" said Hanhart.
Hanhart has devoted every day for the past year and a half to wrangling alligators, both inside of Gator Country and out of it.
He says that the number of gator rescues that he and the rest of the Gator Country team have had to make has skyrocketed compared to last summer.
"I've caught 25 alligators this summer alone," said Hanhart. "With how dry it was last summer, this year with it being so much wetter, that rain is definitely putting them on the move."
Hanhart says that the team has been finding alligators anywhere and everywhere.
"Including people's pools, ponds, backyards, culverts, ditches my most recent one is under somebody's house," said Hanhart.
Hanhart and crew recently rescued a nearly 10 foot alligator in Orange County that was just trying to catch some shade.
"They're going to ride out that hot summer day until night time," Hanhart said.
Hanhart says that many of the gators found in the vicinity of people can't be released back into the wild.
"Alligators that come to Gator Country have been deemed a nuisance alligator. Can't be re-homed to somewhere else because they have come into contact with humans," said Hanhart.
For the workers of Gator Country their week is just getting started, they still have three calls to respond to Thursday.
"We have three alligators alone right now waiting to get caught. We have one in Anahuac, one in at Motiva, and one here off of 124. It's never a dull moment around here man," said Hanhart.
Hanhart says that they should start to see the rescue numbers start to dwindle as we head into the fall season.