Gator Sightings In Fort Worth, Texas

When you think of Fort Worth, it's Cowboys driving cattle into the Stock Yards downtown. You don't think of Alligators, right? While it's not the famous downtown area of the Stockyards, there have been reports of two gators at Eagle Mountain Lake.

Recently,5 NBC DFW reported two alligators were sighted swimming in Eagle Mountain Lake in North Fort Worth. This occurrence, according to the knowledgeable experts at Texas Parks and Wildlife, is not unusual. They have been managing a relatively small gator population at Eagle Mountain Lake and Lake Worth for centuries.

The Fort Worth Nature Center & Refuge is a nature center located between Lakeside and Lake Worth. It is made up of wetlands and alligators native to the Trinity River. But there is a reason there have been more sightings statewide lately.

"We've had major flooding across East Texas and Central Texas in the last week. We, as a department, are getting lots of calls, mostly in the greater Houston area, for alligators that have been somewhat displaced after this flooding; we have alligators popping up in areas they're not normally seen all over the eastern portion of the state right now," said Texas Parks & Wildlife alligator program leader Jonathan Warner.

It's also alligator mating season, so Warner says don't be surprised if you see more gators out there.

If you see Alligators, watch them safely, and don't approach, disturb, or harass the reptiles. Alligators are protected game animals; state law prohibits feeding, killing, disturbing, or attempting to move an alligator.