Peachtree City alligator returns to Flat Creek for date night

It was in April 2016 that a 6-foot alligator was spotted in Flat Creek by the bridge along Ga. Highway 74 South in Peachtree City. Now four years later, a gator estimated at 8 feet was spotted in the same location on May 13.

Peachtree City Police Department spokesman Chris Hyatt said the gator was reported to police in the afternoon hours on May 13 by a resident who was in the brush by the bridge near the Wilshire Pavilion Shopping Center.

Multiple officers went to the scene and confirmed the sighting, said Hyatt.

Hyatt said four Ga. Department of Natural Resources (DNR) game wardens arrived Thursday and also spotted the gator at the creek, estimating it to be approximately 8 feet in length.

Hyatt said DNR is coordinating the effort to determine the best course of action to have the alligator trapped and relocated, with the least impact to the alligator and the public.

An alligator seen in the same area, estimated at 6 feet, was spotted on April 5, 2016.

The area where both alligators were spotted is approximately 2,000 feet upstream from the convergence of Flat Creek and Line Creek. The two converge immediately west of the bridge on Rockaway Road.

On both occasions, the time of sightings is during the courtship and mating season.

“Both males and females reach sexual maturity when they are about six feet long, a length attained at about 10-12 years. Breeding takes place during the night, in shallow waters. Males roar to attract females and to ward off other males. The male circles the female and mounts. Courtship starts in April, with mating occurring in early May,” according to the Smithsonian National Zoological Park.