Fugitive Alligator 'Chance The Snapper' Caught After Days In Chicago Park

An alligator dubbed “Chance the Snapper” has been captured after more than a week eluding human authorities in Chicago’s Humboldt Park.

Frank Robb, a Florida alligator wrangler the city brought in to catch Chance, nabbed him at about 1:30 a.m on Tuesday, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.

The alligator is a male and is 5 foot, 3 inches long ― slightly larger than earlier estimates that put him at between 4 and 5 feet.

“Wherever he came from, he’s a very healthy alligator,” Robb said at a press conference, according to local news outlet Block Club Chicago.

The alligator will ultimately be sent to a sanctuary or a zoo, The Washington Post reports.

Chance has become somewhat of a local celebrity after being first spotted in the park lagoon on July 9. Officials ended up having to close off the area around the lagoon, fearing that the hordes of enthused gator fans were scaring Chance away and lessening the odds he’d be caught.

Before Robb was brought in, the effort to catch Chance had involved a local reptile expert nicknamed “Alligator Bob.”

City officials suspect someone had owned the alligator and released him into the lagoon, Animal Care and Control executive director Kelley Gandurski told CNN. Owning a pet alligator is illegal in Illinois, and so is releasing one into the wild. At the press conference, Chicago Animal Care and Control former director Cherie Travis said the former owner could have surrendered the reptile to animal control.

The Humboldt Park gator’s name ― a play on Chance the Rapper ― was the winner in a Block Club Chicago poll last week, garnering 67 percent of the vote. The runners up for the name were Frank Lloyd Bite, Ruth Gator Ginsburg and Croc Obama.

This has been updated with additional information.

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