‘Gator Guard Outs Anonymous Lock-Cutting Crook
What do you do when you can’t catch the bandit who keeps breaking into your truck and stealing your expensive tools? Depending on where your job site is, you might have some pretty unique options. Read on to learn how one fed-up construction worker took his history with numerous pets of all different species, his cleverness, and some raw chicken to create his own brand of “justice”.
It was the early 1970s, and a young man was working on a job site near a swamp. He realized an alligator was chilling out there, and since he loved animals, he decided to start sharing his lunch break and some raw chicken with the beast every day. The rest of the crew thought the new job site mascot was pretty cool and they didn’t mind it hanging around.
Unfortunately, there was also a thief on-site, and he wasn’t shy about not giving back costly tools that were lent to him. He then graduated to breaking into the ‘gator’s new friend’s truck, taking whatever he wanted. Even a new lock didn’t deter the criminal, as he just broke it off – probably with a previous tool he stole – and took a five-finger discount shopping spree inside the truck. That was the last straw.
The young man parked his vehicle backed into a briar patch, hoping the thief would think twice this time about the risks versus benefits, and decide being repeatedly stabbed by the thorny, pricker bushes were not worth it. Next, he paid his alligator friend in raw chicken to simply sit in the back seat of the truck with the doors closed… and wait.
About two hours later, screaming could be heard by all of the crew, and it was coming from the direction of the young man’s previously pilfered truck. Afraid someone had gotten really hurt on the construction job, the workers ran toward the hollering. They found the thief in the briar bushes, covered in scratches, and the annoyed alligator creeping out of the truck right toward him. Unfazed by the hysterical fool, the animal slowly made its way back to the swamp, hissing. Busted! The criminal was finally caught!
We don’t know if that was more embarrassing, or the fact that a relatively small, two-foot-long juvenile ‘gator got the job done. What we do know is that not a single tool ever went missing from that job site again.
This story was submitted to an online forum by a family member of the alligator-befriending construction worker. The shared lunches continued after this incident and throughout the rest of the project.
