Deputies called upon to rescue alligator and possum

HOUSTON (KTRK) -- Harris County Sheriff's deputies were called upon this week when wild animals and humans came into closer contact than either wanted.

Thursday night, HCSO deputies responded to a call of an eight-foot-long alligator blocking the road along the feeder road of the Crosby Freeway and Edgewood Village Trail in northeast Harris County.

Deputy Tommy Wilks, who has roped an alligator before, grabbed rope from his patrol car and gained control of the animal.

"I roped his head and with the other end (Deputy Jacob Torres and I) lassoed his mouth. After we got his mouth lassoed shut and secure I got on top of it and tied his mouth shut and loaded it on to a flat bed wrecker and took it over to the Sheldon Reservoir boat ramp and unloaded it and let it go back in the reservoir," says Deputy Wilks.

This is the second time Depupty Wilks lassoed an alligator. "The first one I caught was in a lady's front door, one or two years ago, in the same area."

That one was smaller, he says, about six to seven feet. He roped that alligator too, put it in the back seat of his car, and let him go in the reservoir.

On Tuesday, Deputy Gregory Nason responded to a home in Crosby. The homeowner had found a possum inside her bedroom and was scared.

Deputy Nason arrived at the home, caught the possum and released it into the night.