"I thought the whole event was extremely cruel," suggested Cinco Ranch resident Laura Mercadante. "He was tortured."
Mercadante is one of dozens of people who watched in horror as an alligator was roped, tied to a truck, dragged down the street, then shot, all at the hands of a Texas Parks and Wildlife game warden.
"I feel that he needs some serious disciplinary action, definitely," Mercadante stated. "That's not my line of work, so I cannot say what would happen, but that was absolutely uncalled for."
The game warden, Mike Wise, a 20-year veteran, will not be disciplined for the incident. Wildlife officials say Texas law does not give cruelty protection to wild animals until they are captured.
"Once you put a snare or a noose on it, and you catch it, then it is subject to the cruelty statute," said SPCA Cruelty Investigator Jim Boller.
But Boller believes the alligator's capture changes how it should have been handled, and that cruelty laws then apply to the animal.
Boller told Eyewitness News, "That behavior, that handling of the animal is inappropriate. Whether or not the wardens have ever been taught proper handling or not, I don't know."
So the question now is, will this game warden face animal cruelty charges? At this point it seems unlikely. We're told that's a decision that will have to be made by the Fort Bend county district attorney's office, and so far there has been no action from that office on this case.
Officials at Texas Parks and Wildlife tell Eyewitness News that this alligator was injured. It was missing an eye, and because of that injury the alligator may have been more aggressive. Officials also say that this alligator was lying in the middle of a school bus stop and there were dozens of children around. Those are two reasons why the game warden took the action that he did. However, TPW is probably going to change the way it handles alligator nuisance calls in the future because of this controversy.