By Shawn Skager

The Courier-Herald

For Sgt. Tim Personius of the Buckley Police Department, it must have seemed like a &#8220Wild Kingdom” moment.

&#8220I was looking around for Marlin Perkins,” he said with a laugh.

Normally, members of the Buckley Police Department keep busy with the things small town police departments do - write traffic tickets, keep tabs on the youth of the city and deal with the occasional rowdy drunk.

The afternoon of July 1, however, Personius and several Buckley police officers were busy assisting Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife officer Justin Maschhoff corral a 3-feet long, 15-pound American alligator - a species native to southeastern United States and Gulf Coast states - that was found in a drainage culvert off Ryan Road.

According to Personius the department was notified around 2 p.m. of the reptile.

&#8220A resident of Rose Place was mowing the grass where the retention pond is and saw something sticking out of the culvert,” he said. &#8220She thought it was a snake, but when it started hissing at her she realized it was some kind of a reptile.”

Donna Worley was the one who first saw the alligator.

&#8220I was mowing the retention pond, we take turns doing that in my neighborhood,” she said.

According to Worley she was weeding and saw some leaves and sticks by the drain to the culvert pipe and went to pick them up.

&#8220Then the drain hissed at me,” she said. &#8220I just sucked in a deep breath and looked around - where just minutes before everyone in the neighborhood was out - at the empty streets.”

Worley ran back to her house and told her husband, who went back and verified the sighting before calling both the police and game department.

Although this is the first alligator sighted in the retention pond area, Worley said some animals, namely skunks or raccoons, have been seen in the vicinity.

&#8220We used to have frogs in the area, but it's been quiet this year,” she said.

When they arrived, Buckley officers and a game agent spend the better part of an hour trying to coax the animal into the loop of an animal control pole.

&#8220The game agent was able to capture it after scaring it out the other side of the culvert,” Personius said. &#8220We put it in one of the carriers we have for dogs.”

The department held onto the animal for the evening and on Sunday turned it over to Dale Drexler, a member of the Pacific Northwest Herpetological Society.

According to Drexler, the animal is currently doing well and was scheduled to make an appearance at the society's Reptile and Amphibian Show, slated for last weekend at the Pacific Science Center is Seattle.

&#8220It's kind of tame,” he said. &#8220I can pick it up now. It's probably somebody's pet, maybe an escapee. He's in pretty good shape.”

After the show the alligator - which Drexler estimates to be between two and three years old - will be placed with an organization or individual capable of handling the special needs of the animal.

Shawn Skager can be reached at sskager@courierherald.com.