Around 10 p.m. on Tuesday, deputies with the Chambers County Sheriff’s Office rescued a fisherman from a cypress tree in an East Texas bayou. The fisherman claimed to have been chased up the tree by an alligator, according to a Facebook post by the CCSO.
The sheriff’s office says the rescue took place on Bird Rookery Lake, which lies within the Anahuac National Wildlife Refuge. The sprawling refuge is located near the Gulf Coast, and it covers 34,000 acres of marsh and woodlands that provide ideal habitat for alligators along with hundreds of migratory bird species.
The CCSO did not immediately respond to requests for comment. But officials explained in the Facebook post that the call came from the angler’s friend, who left his buddy in the cypress tree and then called for help once he got to safety.
A brief video clip shared by the CCSO shows that when rescuers got there, the angler was still in the cypress tree standing on a limb. The man was unharmed, and it’s unclear if the alligator was still around when they arrived.
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Sheriff Brian Hawthorne took the opportunity to remind locals that alligators will be moving more as the weather continues to warm and as mating season progresses. This typically peaks sometime between March 1 and May 30, according to Texas Parks and Wildlife. Local news reports from the area also show heavy rainfall and flooding in recent weeks, and the high water could be dispersing gators to new areas.
“Alligators, snakes, and other potentially dangerous animals call Chambers County home too,” Sheriff Hawthorne warned residents. “Be aware, use common sense, and be respectful of wildlife.”
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