A basketball practice at a Texas church took an unexpected turn when an enormous alligator wandered onto the grounds, and the church later turned the wildlife cameo into a tongue-in-cheek plug for its youth group.
Footage originally shared by the Nacogdoches Law Enforcement Foundation shows a Texas Game Warden directing the alligator away from the church grounds with a pole.
What happened?
The video captures the warden using a long pole to steer the reptile away from the Pleasant Hill Missionary Baptist Church.
@mairchc8 WATCH: This 400-pound gator was removed from a Nacogdoches Church. In a video posted by the Nacogdoches Law Enforcement Foundation, a Texas Game Warden can be seen using a pole to coax the gator away from church grounds. According to the post, the gator clocked in around 11-feet 8-inches and 400-pounds. It was safely relocated to eastern Nacogdoches County. The gator was spotted at Pleasant Hill Missionary Baptist Church during a basketball practice event, according to the post. The church is taking advantage of the encounter, using the phrase "the gator showed up, what's your excuse" in a post for their church youth group.
♬ original sound - Mairchch8
Officials said the gator measured about 11 feet 8 inches in length and weighed around 400 pounds, making it a startling sight for anyone showing up for church or basketball practice.
Children are heard speaking in the background as the warden urges the animal to move away from the people, and another shot shows the massive animal slowly walking through the parking lot.
At one point, as the warden taps the animal on the nose with the pole, one of the children is heard saying, "no way!"
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According to the foundation, the animal was "safely relocated to eastern Nacogdoches County" after it appeared during basketball practice.
Afterward, the Pleasant Hill Missionary Baptist Church worked the incident into a youth-group post with the line: "the gator showed up, what's your excuse."
Why does it matter?
Wildlife encounters like this can become more common when human development overlaps with natural habitats.
As neighborhoods, churches, roads, and recreation spaces spread into areas near creeks, ponds, and wetlands, animals such as alligators are more likely to wander into places people consider off-limits.
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A close encounter at a church basketball practice could have turned dangerous if anyone had tried to approach the gator or scare it away without training.
It also puts stress on the animal, which may simply be moving through territory reshaped by human activity. Safe relocation, as shown here, helps prevent panic and injury on both sides.
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