Alligator rescued from Michigan school pond residing at zoo

TEMPERANCE, Mich. — An alligator rescued from a southeastern Michigan school pond is doing well in its new digs at a zoo.

Staff from the Indian Creek Zoo in Lambertville on Friday captured the American alligator — originally believed to be a caiman — from a pond on the Bedford junior high/high school campus in Temperance. It was discovered the day before in the pond used for academic study.

Zoo employees have named the reptile "Renegade." It's about 3 feet long (1-meter-long) and believed to be around 3 years old.

It was likely an illegal pet that escaped or was released.

Zoo officials tell The Monroe News Renegade will spend the fall and winter inside a heated barn and move into a new enclosure in the spring.

Temperance is just north of Toledo, Ohio.

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