Alligator loitering at NC Walmart inspires jokes. ‘You can find anything at Walmart’
Alligators are notorious for getting into predicaments, and one apparently got lost in a vast Walmart parking lot along North Carolina’s coast.
It happened Wednesday, June 12, in Southport, and even the police have punchlines.
The department shared a cryptic post about the gator sighting on Facebook but didn’t mention what happened to it.
Southport police Maj. Tony Burke jokes it was on the run after getting out of the store with some chicken it shoplifted.
“We issued it a criminal summons,” he told McClatchy News.
A photo posted online shows the 4-foot juvenile gator headed under someone’s car, which alligators are prone to do in North Carolina.
It was reported “wandering the parking lot” by shoppers, and police say it eventually wandered back into one of the retention ponds on the property.
“It’s a resident gator,” Burke said, meaning it lives in the ponds. “We don’t intervene unless they (alligators) are being aggressive. If it’s just wandering through the parking lot, you walk away from it or drive away. It will not harm you. It just moves on.”
It was the second time in days an alligator showed up at a store in Southport.
On Sunday, June 9, one measuring 12 feet was found at Walgreens, about a mile from the Walmart, and traffic had to be stopped to allow it to cross the road. It was eventually trapped and moved to a safer spot, police said in a Facebook post.
The Walmart incident quickly got the attention of social media, where commenters joked the gator was just another shopper who forgot where they parked. Others suggested it lost its keys.
“Goes to prove you can find anything at Walmart,” Tim-Marilyn Southern posted on Facebook.
“He was just picking up a few things,” Rachael Levins Savvas wrote.
“Apparently you have to pay attention at Walmart now,” Phyllis Roach said.
Southport is about a 160-mile drive southeast of Raleigh.
This story was originally published June 13, 2024 at 10:17 AM with the headline "Alligator loitering at NC Walmart inspires jokes. ‘You can find anything at Walmart’."