Now this is a walk on the wild side! A Louisiana woman captured a jaw-dropping moment on May 19 when she spotted what she thought was a large dog strolling across Highway 23 in Plaquemines Parish. Spoiler alert: it wasn’t a dog. It was a tailless alligator.
Ashlyn Bartholomew of Boothville was riding with her boyfriend, Jimmy Matthews, when she slammed on the brakes after spotting the unusual creature waddling across the road. “I couldn’t tell at first if he was an alligator or a big dog or what,” she told Nola.com. “This was the first time I ever saw an alligator without a tail.”
Bartholomew quickly grabbed her phone and filmed the animal as it slowly crossed the road with a distinctive, and heartbreaking, hobble. In the clip, the alligator appears completely unbothered, pausing in the middle of the street before eventually heading toward a nearby canal.
“He laid down… he was just minding his own business,” she recalled. “He just took his little time and waddled into the canal.”
Expert Weighs In After Tailless Alligator Stuns Louisiana Locals
But it wasn’t just the alligator’s calm demeanor that caught attention. It was the complete lack of a tail. The gator’s back end had been reduced to a rounded nub, prompting reptile experts to weigh in on how such a dramatic injury could even be survivable.
According to Robert Mendyk, a reptile expert at New Orleans’ Audubon Zoo, there are a few possibilities. While a boat propeller could have sliced through the gator’s tail, Mendyk believes it’s more likely the result of a territorial battle with another alligator. “I’ve seen an adult alligator missing 75 percent of its tail before,” he shared. “A big rival gator would definitely have the bite force to chomp it off.”
As gruesome as it sounds, the real jaw-dropper is how well these reptiles recover. “They have really phenomenal healing and regenerative abilities,” Mendyk explained. “The wound walls itself off and heals.”
Social media couldn’t get enough of the gator’s viral moment. “I almost feel bad for him,” one commenter wrote. Another added, “What tha???? Never seen one walking around with no tail!” while others chimed in with, “Like how in the world,” and “I hope he lives… poor thing! Just trying to survive in his habitat.”
With thousands of shares and reactions, Bartholomew’s encounter has turned the tailless traveler into an unlikely internet sensation. He may be missing a tail, but he’s not missing a moment.
