An alligator found in Georgia prompted hoax speculation online after it was revealed the animal weighed more than 700 pounds before it was euthanised.
The 'gator was first spotted in southwest Georgia by a farmer, who found the animal in an irrigation ditch in Lake Blackshear.
After discovering the animal, the farmer called the Georgia Department of Natural Resources (DNR) - which sent wildlife biologist Brent Howze to investigate.
According to Mr Howze, the alligator, which a spokesperson for the DNR confirmed to The Independent was real, was 13-feet four-inches long.
The alligator had been stuck in the ditch for about a week before Mr Howze and his team reached it.
“We have captured quite a few alligators, but none this large,” Mr Howze told CBS News.
While the DNR wildlife biologists were able to successfully free the alligator from the ditch, they ultimately decided to euthanise the animal, as the alligator was suffering from multiple injuries, including old gunshot wounds.
The animal’s old age also played a part in the decision.
“It’s an unfortunate situation, but the best thing for the animal was to put it down,” Howze told the Cordele Dispatch.
Photos taken of the animal prior to the euthanisation went viral, prompting some people to suggest the alligator’s size had been edited.
However, according to Mr Howze, while “alligators this size are not common”, male alligators can reach up to 16 feet in size.
But the wildlife biologist did say the only way an alligator can grow to this size is by avoiding humans.
Despite its immense size, the alligator is not the largest to be found in Georgia - as the DNR told us a 14-foot one-inch alligator captured in 2015 during alligator hunting season holds the record.
