Alligator gets loose in airliner baggage compartment

The Dallas Morning News ^ | 10/27/2003

[Texican72]

Associated Press

NEWARK, N.J. - An alligator was captured inside the baggage hold of an airliner on Monday after escaping from its crate.

The young alligator, just 4 to 5 feet long and weighing as little as 10 pounds, remained inside a burlap bag with its mouth bound shut, American Airlines spokesman Tim Wagner said.

Officers captured it with a looped device and put it back in its crate with three other gators shipped from Miami, officials said.

Authorities were looking into how the reptile got out.

The gator was found outside its box when the cargo hold of the Boeing 767 was opened, Wagner said.

Officials said they did not know why the alligators were being shipped. But their paperwork was in order, Wagner said.

[Texican72]

Its a good day to NOT be a baggage handler.

[Mears]

Probably on it's way to an apartment in Harlem or Brooklyn.

[Thud]

As dinner.

[John Beresford Tipton]

"Authorities were looking into how the reptile got out."

Simple, the alligator had gone to a seminar "to think outside the box"

[theDentist]

It's probably calmer being in a burlap bag than in an alligator bag.

[Free Trapper]

Most folks would be surprised at the numbers and kinds of live critters shipped this way.

[Free Trapper]

Yep.

[70times7]

The gator was found outside [the] box...

Yes, but was the alligator thinking?

[bobjam]

The tax payer subsidized airline couldn't afford in flight meals, so the gator had try and find a tasty bulldog on his own...Go Gators

[Free Trapper]

I think Taiwan or Hong Kong might be a more likely destination,as Thud said,for dinner.

Asia pays good prices for all kinds of wild critters.

[twigs]

It's true. My son is a zoo keeper and he has to meet his guests at the airport as they arrive.

[princess leah]

"You're Luggage" (Arnold in Eraser)

[Hatteras]

A cousin of mine was a baggage handler for a few summers at a major airport years ago. He acquired a two-year old black Newfoundland because someone shipped the dog and no one claimed him. After the end of the second day he took the dog home to care for it until the owner's showed up. The owner's never showed and he kept the dog.

[giotto]

Doesn't it get really cold in the cargo area at high altitudes? The poor aligator was probably just trying to get to a warmer spot. You don't see a lot of aligators in cold climates.

[Free Trapper]

I'm more familiar with wild critters being shipped out,instead of in.

H ,I love your tag.:o)

[giotto]

Aligator=alligator. Too bad I typed it twice, or I could have blamed it on my bad typing skills, rather than the fact that I'm a lousy speller.

[azhenfud]

Someone forgot to process that luggage?

[ErnBatavia]

just 4 to 5 feet long and weighing as little as 10 pounds

??? No wonder Steve Irwin wrestles them so easily...Crikey!

[Free Trapper]

A lot of reptiles are shipped air freight.Some with dry bags and others with wet burlap.

Keeping them cool is best because it slows their metabolism for a less stressful journey.

[6AL-4V]

Boeing 767's have heated cargo bins, as do most jet airliners. Ten pounds and five feet long, can't be both.