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CHARLOTTE, NC – A wild discovery on Lake Wylie. A Charlotte-area family gets an up-close experience with an alligator while out kayaking!
“We were startled,” says James Thomas. He and his family go kayaking often, expecting to see fish or turtles, but not what they spotted Sunday.
13-year-old Brandon was the first to see the alligator. “It was kind of cool but also kind of scary, because you don’t really see them on Lake Wylie,” he says.
Brandon, his twin brother, and parents were kayaking in a cove near Copperhead Island.
They took pictures of the small gator sitting on a log.
“It was just kind of a freaky experience to actually see one,” says Christine Thomas.
Brandon says they were able to get pretty close. “Maybe like three or four feet away from it before it started going into the water,” he says.
Christine and James say it also made them nervous. “Actually Brandon, had just gotten back in his kayak from taking a dip, probably 100 yards from where we saw him,” James Thomas says.
The family says they were told it may have been someone’s pet, dumped into the lake. Experts tell the family the gator would likely not be able to survive next winter.
“I don’t think that anybody should kill it. I would say take it to a rescue place or a zoo,” Brandon says.
