Lumberjack — Lumberton Police Chief Danny Sullins and other rescue personnel tried to imitate Gator Country owner Gary Saurage as best they could and caught an alligator estimated to be 6 feet long in a ditch near the Lumberton Early Childhood Center.

The center was closed and there were no children there.

Chief Sullins told KFDM/Fox 4 News they responded to the alligator sighting shortly after 5 p.m. Tuesday in the ditch in front of the Early Childhood Center in the 1100 block of Main Street.

“We stopped and the alligator was standing on a fence,” said Chief Sullins, “and crawled under a sewer.”

They called the Lumberton Fire Department, emergency medical services and Texas Parks & Wildlife rangers.

“We blocked off one end of the sewer with a shield and our firefighters sprayed the other end with water,” Chief Sullins told us. “Our guy used a lasso and the game warden used a snare pole. We pulled the alligator to the bank. The game wardens put it in a guy’s cattle trailer.”

The gamekeepers took the crocodile away and everyone involved escaped unharmed.

While it’s not a fishing story, the first responders can now tell everyone their story about the fish that didn’t escape.