by KYW's Michelle Durham

For the third time this year, animal control officers in Warminster (Bucks County), Pa. have captured a live alligator in the wild.

It's a problem they say is becoming more widespread.

Buddy Mullen, director of public works for Warminster Township, says that when the latest call came in on Monday, he and his staff knew exactly how to handle it:

"This is actually the third one we caught in a year. We caught two last year with the Lower Moreland animal control officer and our animal control officer Craig Claycomb at Pennypack Creek: a five-footer and a three-footer. So when we got the call, we thought it would have been Horsham because Horhsam said they had one over there. So it was a little surprising that it was Northampton."  
 
The Northampton reptile was caught in a pond near a construction site for new homes. The Horsham gator -- last spotted in a pond near the police station -- remains at large.

So, how do you catch an alligator?

"Me and Craig went out on it. He put on big chest waders and I stood up on the side of the bank and kept an eye on it while he went in. And he actually caught it with a really big net."

Mullen says these alligators are former pets whose owners dumped them into nearby creeks after they got too big to care for.

He advises parents to keep a sharp eye on their kids when they go swimming in ponds and creeks.

Mullen says the alligator will be taken by a tourist attraction in Bucks County called "Jungle Joe's."  But that won't happen for a couple of days. In the meantime, he says, the alligator is being kept in the downstairs bathroom of his home.

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