JOHNSTON COUNTY, N.C. -- An alligator caught by the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission is now in the care of a Wendell man with gator experience.

• Alligator accidently escaped a facility 
• It was found in a pond 
• Officials say there aren't any other gators on the loose

He uses them for educational purposes like in schools. Officers say the almost 4-foot long alligator accidentally escaped a facility, used for the same purpose, and ended up off of Mudham Road in Wendell.

After verifying the gator was indeed in a pond there, they caught him.

“There was bait used and then jumping on top of it and using bare hands to capture it,” says senior officer Joseph Spears. 

State biologist Greg Batts says it's not at all common to find alligators on the loose.

"Not in this area. I mean down on the coast they go as far as north as the Virgina line and they kind of hang around the coast," he said. "That’s the areas that they’re adapted to and the cold weather stops them from going any further north and pretty much any further to the west as well.”

Officials don't believe there are other alligators on the loose at this time.