Overview

• A six-foot alligator bolted from its owner during a rest stop on a road trip from New York to a North Carolina zoo
• Tourists at a Fairfax County motel on June 16 spotted the reptile and called police after it appeared near their room
• Fairfax officers used body-cam footage to track and safely recapture the alligator at the motel entrance before returning it to its owner
• Virginia law deems the escape of exotic reptiles a misdemeanor and bars ownership of nonnative species without special permits
• To comply with state and county exotic pet bans, officers then escorted the owner and the alligator out of Fairfax County; no injuries occurred