400-pound monster alligator named Pepe ‘detained' for ‘being a dinosaur without proper papers' in NC
The scales of justice came for Pepe.
Cops detained – and rescued – a monster 10-foot alligator they nicknamed Pepe the Gator sunbathing on a busy road in North Carolina and 'charged' him on suspicion of being a 'dinosaur.'
'Witnesses say he was just chilling and snapping, clearly ignoring the 'no loitering or lounging on roadways' sign,' the Onslow County Sheriff's Office wrote in a playful press release last week. 'Pepe has been cited for Suspicion of Being a Dinosaur Without Proper Papers, Public Loitering with Intent to Sunbathe, and Obstructing Traffic.'
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3 Deputies and a wildlife officer straddle Pepe the Gator, who was playfully charged with being a dinosaur without proper papers as he sunbathed on a North Carolina highway last month.
Onslow County Sheriff's Office
The responding deputies and officers from the NC Wildlife Resources Commission who got the call on May 25 managed to safely remove Pepe, but not before posing for pictures where they straddle him like rodeo riders.
'He was 10 feet long, 400 pounds. He was an absolute monster,' Trevor Dunnell, spokesman for the Onslow County Sheriff's Office told the Post Thursday.
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'They did a fantastic job of wrangling him.'
To indicate the scale of the gator, Dunnell pointed out how, in the picture, even with three grown men on top of him, Pepe's still not covered.
'The picture really doesn't do it justice, I mean 10 feet … 10 feet is a basketball goal, that is a massive creature,' he said.
Although 10 feet seems big, it's nothing compared to the largest gator on record – 14 feet and 3 and a half inches.
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Deputies and wildlife officials used a towel to cover Pepe's eyes — eye contact is what triggers the animal's notorious death roll, Dunnell explained — and electrical tape to seal his mouth shut.
'It was definitely some MacGyver stuff they had to use,' he said. 'He may not have a good time during the removal, but he was playfully enough about it later to understand that, 'Hey, man, you gotta do what you gotta do.''
3 Deputies and a wildlife officer in North Carolina successfully relocated Pepe the Gator.
Onslow County Sheriff's Office
Dunnell said the office received blowback from people online wishing the cops had just left Pepe alone. but Dunnell was quick to point out that leaving the reptile on the side of the road could have posed a hazard not only to residents but also to the gator.
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'You never know what can happen when kids are running around,' he said. 'And the gator could wind up in the middle of the road. It could hurt drivers but it could hurt him, too.'
Dunnell said he hopes to see body camera footage of Pepe's apprehension. The two deputies and the wildlife official in the picture are happy to be riding him, Dunnell said, adding that if authorities encounter another Pepe, they'll know who to call.
3 The sheriff's office dropped all charges against Pepe the Gator, who was playfully suspected of being a dinosaur without his proper papers, after he was returned to his natural habitat.
Onslow County Sheriff's Office
'But some deputies were absolutely not fine,' he said. 'When they got back, they were saying, 'You're not going to catch me on that thing. I'm not going to go anywhere near it!''
Pepe was far from home, and Dunnell suspects that it was a hot day and he was looking for a good spot to bask.
'How far he wandered is anybody's guess,' he said. 'It must've been several miles at least.'
After further investigation, Dunnell said, they declined to charge Pepe. Instead, they drove him to a boat ramp at nearby Camp Geiger, a satellite facility of Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune.
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'I think we've touched base with the gator and let him know we dropped the charges,' he joked.
'Pepe's back to his normal routine, he's hanging out near the beach and lounging in his natural habitat, hunting for his food and looking for a girlfriend.'
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New York Post
18 hours ago
- New York Post
400-pound monster alligator named Pepe ‘detained' for ‘being a dinosaur without proper papers' in NC
The scales of justice came for Pepe. Cops detained – and rescued – a monster 10-foot alligator they nicknamed Pepe the Gator sunbathing on a busy road in North Carolina and 'charged' him on suspicion of being a 'dinosaur.' 'Witnesses say he was just chilling and snapping, clearly ignoring the 'no loitering or lounging on roadways' sign,' the Onslow County Sheriff's Office wrote in a playful press release last week. 'Pepe has been cited for Suspicion of Being a Dinosaur Without Proper Papers, Public Loitering with Intent to Sunbathe, and Obstructing Traffic.' Advertisement 3 Deputies and a wildlife officer straddle Pepe the Gator, who was playfully charged with being a dinosaur without proper papers as he sunbathed on a North Carolina highway last month. Onslow County Sheriff's Office The responding deputies and officers from the NC Wildlife Resources Commission who got the call on May 25 managed to safely remove Pepe, but not before posing for pictures where they straddle him like rodeo riders. 'He was 10 feet long, 400 pounds. He was an absolute monster,' Trevor Dunnell, spokesman for the Onslow County Sheriff's Office told the Post Thursday. Advertisement 'They did a fantastic job of wrangling him.' To indicate the scale of the gator, Dunnell pointed out how, in the picture, even with three grown men on top of him, Pepe's still not covered. 'The picture really doesn't do it justice, I mean 10 feet … 10 feet is a basketball goal, that is a massive creature,' he said. Although 10 feet seems big, it's nothing compared to the largest gator on record – 14 feet and 3 and a half inches. Advertisement Deputies and wildlife officials used a towel to cover Pepe's eyes — eye contact is what triggers the animal's notorious death roll, Dunnell explained — and electrical tape to seal his mouth shut. 'It was definitely some MacGyver stuff they had to use,' he said. 'He may not have a good time during the removal, but he was playfully enough about it later to understand that, 'Hey, man, you gotta do what you gotta do.'' 3 Deputies and a wildlife officer in North Carolina successfully relocated Pepe the Gator. Onslow County Sheriff's Office Dunnell said the office received blowback from people online wishing the cops had just left Pepe alone. but Dunnell was quick to point out that leaving the reptile on the side of the road could have posed a hazard not only to residents but also to the gator. Advertisement 'You never know what can happen when kids are running around,' he said. 'And the gator could wind up in the middle of the road. It could hurt drivers but it could hurt him, too.' Dunnell said he hopes to see body camera footage of Pepe's apprehension. The two deputies and the wildlife official in the picture are happy to be riding him, Dunnell said, adding that if authorities encounter another Pepe, they'll know who to call. 3 The sheriff's office dropped all charges against Pepe the Gator, who was playfully suspected of being a dinosaur without his proper papers, after he was returned to his natural habitat. Onslow County Sheriff's Office 'But some deputies were absolutely not fine,' he said. 'When they got back, they were saying, 'You're not going to catch me on that thing. I'm not going to go anywhere near it!'' Pepe was far from home, and Dunnell suspects that it was a hot day and he was looking for a good spot to bask. 'How far he wandered is anybody's guess,' he said. 'It must've been several miles at least.' After further investigation, Dunnell said, they declined to charge Pepe. Instead, they drove him to a boat ramp at nearby Camp Geiger, a satellite facility of Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune. Advertisement 'I think we've touched base with the gator and let him know we dropped the charges,' he joked. 'Pepe's back to his normal routine, he's hanging out near the beach and lounging in his natural habitat, hunting for his food and looking for a girlfriend.'
Yahoo
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Missouri's Historic Abortion Victory Is Crumbling Before Our Eyes
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With it, the Supreme Court of Missouri has effectively allowed the state to enforce a raft of anti-abortion laws that had been challenged by two Planned Parenthood affiliates, which argued that such laws now violated the state constitution, thanks to Amendment 3. After last week's ruling, Planned Parenthood health centers in the state—Missouri's only abortion clinics—canceled upcoming appointments and advised patients that they could instead go to neighboring Kansas or Illinois, where abortion is legal. For now, those patients, and any Missourian who needs an abortion, have found themselves right back where they would have been had Amendment 3 never been on the ballot. The sudden loss of abortion access is an inarguable blow for Missouri's reproductive rights movement. But it's also something more troubling: a sign of flaws in the post-Roe strategy chosen by large national reproductive rights groups like Planned Parenthood and state chapters and affiliates of such groups, including the ACLU and Reproductive Freedom for All (formerly NARAL). For these groups, abortion rights ballot measures have been seen as a path forward in a hostile legal environment, a way to restore access without relying on the courts. Campaigns would go direct to the people, giving energized supporters a tangible goal to work toward, along with some optimism, amid an otherwise crushing assault on reproductive freedom and bodily autonomy. The speed with which Missouri's ballot measure has gone from being a historic victory to yet another legal battle reveals that such election night wins may prove to be far more qualified and complicated to hold onto than campaigners had hoped. For some advocates in Missouri who had worked on Amendment 3, however, there was nothing all that surprising in the state Supreme Court's ruling. They saw it as a reality check. 'There is no way to responsibly sugarcoat what's playing out in the state,' the What's Next for Missouri coalition told me in a statement from the group. The coalition was founded by longtime Missouri reproductive justice advocates, as well as former staff of Planned Parenthood affiliates in Missouri who quit over their concerns about the ballot measure. 'Amendment 3 was a limited and symbolic win,' the coalition said. 'In reality, it has failed to protect pregnant people's bodily autonomy. Inaccessible abortion is just the tip of the iceberg.' Voters in Missouri may have declared that abortion was their constitutional right, but abortion was not going to return overnight to Missouri. 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The constitutional right protecting abortion that voters believed they had succeeded in installing was being rapidly undermined across multiple fronts—by the state attorney general, in the courts, and in the legislature. This legal undermining depends in part on voters not knowing that it's even happening. The proposed anti-abortion ballot measure language did not refer to Amendment 3, nor to banning abortion, hiding its ban behind claims of ensuring women's 'safety during abortions.' For good measure, it added a ban on gender-affirming care for minors—care that is currently banned in the state. Democrats in the state legislature had tried to block the anti-abortion ballot measure proposal from advancing, but Republicans broke their filibuster with 'a rare procedural maneuver to shut down debate and force a vote on a measure that would repeal Amendment 3,' as St. Louis Public Radio reported. 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In a legal system that cannot be counted upon, there may be no more direct way of supporting a fundamental right.
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