DAYTON TWP, MI — Out collecting minnows one recent morning in rural Tuscola County, a local man heard an odd hissing sound. A moment later, an apex predator lunged at him.

Not a bear, wolf, or other fierce mammal native to Michigan, but an alligator.

Pulling a pistol, the man survived the encounter; the large reptile did not.

The Dayton Township gator attack is the latest in a series of alligator-related incidents to occur in Michigan and the Midwest this summer.

The 59-year-old man called authorities at about 11:45 a.m. on Saturday, July 20, to report the incident. Tuscola County Sheriff’s deputies responded to the scene in the Shay Lake area of Dayton Township and met with the man.

He told them he had been in a ditch gathering minnows for fishing bait. He heard the curious sound, only for the alligator to lunge at him a moment later.

The man drew his pistol and shot the animal once, killing it.

Deputies could see the dead alligator had slid down a bank toward the water. They recovered the carcass, which was between 5 and 6 feet long and weighed about 50 to 60 pounds, said Undersheriff Robert E. Baxter.

Deputies determined the gator had come from a neighboring property that also contained emus, tortoises, turtles, six rattlesnakes, and two more alligators. The animals were contained in fenced-in enclosures, though deputies determined the one gator had somehow escaped.

The 45-year-old owner did not know his gator had escaped until deputies showed up, Baxter said.

“He went, ‘I have three. Here’s one, here’s two, and…oops.’” Baxter paraphrased. It’s not known how the animal escaped, but it didn’t appear to have traveled too far, the owner’s property being about 150 yards from where the gator was killed, Baxter said.

The property owner told deputies he has an exotic animal rescue and conducts educational seminars with the animals at local schools and outdoor expos.

The owner was not required to have a special license or permit to have alligators, the undersheriff said.

“The way the law is written, (alligators) don’t fall under the same rules as something like cattle or dogs,” Baxter said.

Michigan defines an exotic animal as any that are not native to North America and prohibits private ownership of lions, tigers, cougars, cheetahs, leopards, jaguars, panthers, and bears. As there are no statutes regarding alligators and other reptiles, it’s up to individual counties and municipalities to pass regulations or ordinances.

Baxter added arrangements were made for the man who killed the gator to keep its carcass.

That alligator was the latest in a strange string of alligators up north:

“The last two or three weeks, it’s been crazy everywhere,” said David Critchlow, owner of alligator rescue center Critchlow Alligator Sanctuary in Calhoun County. “Every summer we go through this. This time of year, people like taking them outside or they think they can build something outside for them and then they escape.”

The sanctuary has been operating for about 11 years and currently houses about 150 alligators from some 20 states, working with police agencies and animal control offices from throughout the region to rescue alligators as need be.

Critchlow estimated there are 2,000 to 3,000 alligators in private ownership just in Michigan. With the state not regulating alligators, though, there is no way to track their numbers definitively.

“Each neighboring state has a similar issue, too,” he said. “That’s just an estimate on our part. It’s just what 25 years in the business has taught me.”

The number of pet alligators has mushroomed in recent years, he said, adding he opposes private ownership of alligators. Often, owners get buyer’s remorse and decide they’re not up for the responsibility of having such an animal, so they turn them loose.

“They regret it, it gets too big, they’re moving, or their spouse has said for them to get rid of it before it eats the children,” Critchlow said. “I’m completely against (private ownership). It’s a special needs animal. It’s gonna get big, it’s gonna hurt you. It’s too big for an aquarium you’re going to provide. It’s just not practical.”

Asked if the influx of crocodilian incidents in the region results from the animals migrating north on their own, Critchlow said “absolutely not.”

Undersheriff Baxter said deputies have forwarded their reports to the Tuscola County Prosecutor’s Office for review.

“We’re speaking with the usual folks involved in such matters,” said Prosecutor Mark E. Reene, who said the Department of Natural Resources is not involved as alligators don’t fall in the scope of what they address. “This is a situation where we’ll take another look at what’s going on. We certainly understand there are concerns and they are legitimate.”

Tuscola County does not have any ordinances addressing private alligator ownership, Reene said.

With alligator ownership not itself a crime in Michigan, Reene declined to speculate what, if any, criminal charges the slain alligator’s owner could potentially face.

“We’ll see if there are other things that may need to be touched upon,” he said. “As always, we want to be sure everyone is safe in their particular area and this is an unusual development.”