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Officers from Jefferson County Sheriff's Office have rescued a massive alligator from a drainage ditch in Texas.
Contractors working at the pipeline site off Highway 69 in Beaumont spotted the reptile, which was 9 feet and 8 inches long, on Wednesday and called the sheriff's office who dispatched Deputy Damon Bailey.
Local TV station 12 News reported that Bailey is no stranger to alligators, his father-in-law works for the Gator Country wildlife rescue service in Beaumont, Texas which is home to 450 alligators, crocodiles, and other reptiles.
With assistance from the contractors and game warden, John McFall, the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office livestock deputy was able to drag the reptile from the drain.
An image of the alligator and its rescuers was uploaded to Jefferson County Sheriff's Office's official Facebook page.
After Bailey had secured the alligator's snout and legs and the animal was restrained, it was transported to the J.D. Murphree Wildlife Refuge, near the Gulf Coast in Jefferson County, The Sacramento Bee reported.
According to Texas Parks and Wildlife, J.D. Murphree WMA is a near 25,000-acre tract of fresh, intermediate, and brackish water coastal marsh on the upper coast of Texas.
The population of alligators at the site is denser than anywhere else in Texas, with the website describing the animal as "the single most important reptile and predator" in the area.
The Jefferson County Sheriff's Office told The Sacramento Bee that alligators are frequently spotted in Jefferson County, adding that deputies are often required to get the reptiles to safety when they stray too close to a populated area or a busy road.
Another near 10-foot alligator was rescued from a busy interstate in Beaumont in September, Newsweek previously reported. The reptile had caused traffic to back up on Interstate 10 from Major Drive to College Street as Tropical Storm Nicholas battered the area with heavy rains and flooding.
Jefferson County Sheriff's Office called upon Gator Country and Bailey's father-in-law, Gary Saurage, to remove the alligator. The reptile, which was named Major Nicholas, was taken to the park where it continued its reign of destruction by smashing down a door at the center.
As large as these reptiles are, they've some growing to do if they want to challenge the largest alligator ever caught in Texas.
In 2016, Gator Country caught a nearly 14-foot alligator that earned the nicknamed "Big Tex." The massive reptile was enjoying the waters of Lake Champion at Trinity River National Wildlife Refuge when officials worried it was becoming "a little too friendly."
"Capturing this magnificent creature was truly the pinnacle of my career," Saurage told ABC News. "All the alligators in the lake scattered out and made room for him and then he stopped about 10 feet from us out in the water."
Big Tex, who weighs 900 pounds, has gone on to become a celebrity at the Gator Country park.
