Personnel stationed at the MacDill Air Force Base in Florida encountered a peculiar obstacle to the facility’s operations earlier this week, when an alligator decided to park itself right in the middle of a runway.
The photo of the scaly intruder was shared on the base’s Facebook account, with the reptile being described in the caption as “your friendly, #TeamMacDill gator — preparing for take-off”.
According to the Tampa Bay Times, the reptile was encountered by the base staff early Tuesday morning after the creature likely “surfaced from one of the base’s bodies of water”.
The problem was promptly resolved after the gator was lured into a loader’s bucket and safely “relocated” elsewhere, with the whole process being overseen by the wing safety office’s wildlife manager.
READ MORE: Scratch My Back: Gator Gets Groomed at Everglades Holiday Park in Florida
News of this development have, perhaps predictably, amused many social media users, with one of them jokingly calling the creature a “safety investi-gator”.
We're gonna need a bigger broom
— ausvotes (@Notagoodperson1) 16 мая 2019 г.
He was just watching the planes go in and out, probably even saluted an airman or two. 🤔
— Angel in Tampa 🦈 (@sandyshores813) 15 мая 2019 г.
Just catching some flordia sunshine and warming up.
— Itsme200173 (@itsme200173) 14 мая 2019 г.
One netizen, however, claimed that “usually animals doing [do] this when they are sick and waiting for help from people”.
