Alligator sightings increase in RGV with weather

SOUTH PADRE ISLAND, Texas (ValleyCentral) — Alligators are more likely to be displaced from their natural habitat when the weather changes.

The South Padre Island Birding, Nature Center and Alligator Sanctuary was called when an alligator had been spotted near the shore of Cameron County Beach Access 5.

Jacob Reinbolt, a zoologist and alligator wrangler at the sanctuary, said he had received many calls about the alligator before he was finally able to catch and relocate it on Friday.

Reinbolt said he often gets called to retrieve alligators across the Rio Grande Valley when there is a weather impact.

“When it floods, they have access to all kinds of new water and they’re going to utilize every bit of that. When those flood waters start to recede, sometimes that can leave them in places you wouldn’t expect to see an alligator and that’s probably the largest reason for the increase in alligator sightings that we’ve had this year," Reinbolt said.

Reinbolt stressed the importance of not feeding an alligator when you come ...