ROCKLAND TWP., Pa. -
Little Rocky the alligator didn't want to give up his freedom without a fight.
"He was snarling and hissing. His teeth were out," explained Bob Hipp.
Hipp and his teenage son disturbed Rocky's Friday breakfast in their backyard pond.
"He chomped down on quite a few before we got him. Four grogs and six little fish. "
Bob is a chimney sweeper by trade but says he channeled his inner Crocodile Dundee.
Using a trapping snare and what he'd seen on the Discovery Channel to wrestle the 3-foot reptile out of the water, he said, "I came back behind him and snared the back of his tail, got him like that and pulled him out of the water."
Once Bob and his son tamed the 2-year-old American Alligator, they taped his mouth shut, put him in a box and took him to the Pennsylvania State Police in Reading.
A storage container with water was his holding cell.
News of Rocky's capture reached his owner. And, after checking to make sure keeping an alligator as a pet isn't against the law, Rocky was wheeled out and reunited with his owner.
The owner was afraid to talk on camera but apparently loves exotic pets.
"I'm happy to get him back. I've got plans for him, my baby," the man said.
The owner told us Rocky's real name is actually Wally. He says he was cleaning Wally's aquarium when he escaped.
The gator traveled about a half mile through the woods to Bob's Rockland Township home.
Bob was just glad the alligator was reunited and joked about crossing one thing off his list of things to do.
"Alligator wrestling, take that off the bucket list," he said laughing
Officers who've been on the force for 20 years say they've deal with horses, cows and deer, but never an alligator.
