Boots the alligator has become a neighborhood icon in Port Aransas. He was recently relocated to Beaumont’s Gator Country.
Port Aransas residents had become accustomed to sharing their neighborhood with Boots the alligator. At 12 ft. 3 in., Boots was pretty hard to miss, especially since he took up residence between an apartment complex and a nearby Dollar Store. Boots was first moved into the area in 2024 after previously occupying a stretch of water near Leonabelle Turnbull Birding Center. As the last few years passed, the alligator became more habituated to humans, mainly because they would feed him and try to take pictures with him despite numerous posted warnings about the dangers of doing so. Boots drew eventually started to draw bigger and bigger crowds, and the City of Port Aransas and the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department recently decided that enough was enough—allowing this behavior was not only putting people at risk, but it was putting Boots at risk too.
Last Saturday, Boots was safely captured and relocated to Beaumont’s Gator Country, where he’ll be with other similarly sized gators. More than 700 of those reptiles occupy the wildlife rescue, and Boots will remain there for the rest of his life. Maggie Berger, a spokesperson for the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, told Chron, “After discussion between Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) and the City of Port Aransas, it was deemed necessary to remove a 12 ft. 3 in. long alligator, commonly known as Boots, this weekend in the interests of both public safety and the welfare of the animal.” Those discussions have reportedly been ongoing for quite some time.
A news release addressing Boots’s relocation said, “Over the last year, the animal was drawing growing numbers of onlookers who approached at unsafe distances, despite posted warning signage and ongoing public education efforts regarding appropriate behavior around wild alligators. Due to its size and habituation, relocation to the wild was not a viable option. The alligator was safely captured and transported to Gator Country in Beaumont, Texas, where it will be ethically housed in a semi-natural enclosure for the remainder of its life.”
Several area professionals were concerned about the alligator’s quality of life
David Parsons, Port Aransas’s City Manager, told Chron, “My staff and I felt Boots’ life and daily living conditions deteriorated to the point where relocation was the best option.” Gator Country’s owner Gary Saurage felt the same way. “Over time, people would feed it. People would throw bricks and rocks at it. And it just got to the point where the city made a decision he was either going to have to be euthanized or taken to a sanctuary like ours, which is the only one in the state of Texas equipped to deal with big alligators like that.” Saurage added that the city ultimately decided to move Boots now due to the looming spring break season. “When they have all the tours there and an alligator in the city, and amongst all those tourists, it’s just not a good combination.”
Maggie Berger said that Boots’s relocation was a positive thing for the reptile and for researchers who are hoping to learn more about alligators and their behavior. “Alligators of this size are rarely captured alive, and valuable scientific data was collected from the animal to learn more about his condition,” she said. Berger also wanted to emphasize to people in Port Aransas and beyond that they should “never feed, harass, or approach wild alligators,” because it “puts people and alligators at risk and can unfortunately necessitate the reactionary removal measures taken in this instance.”
His relocation was in everyone’s best interest, even if residents are sad about the move
Numerous people expressed sadness over Boots’s relocation on social media. One resident, Nicole Scofield, was shocked by the city’s decision and wished “he could’ve stayed — He is a famous guy around here and we love to see him!” Gary Saurage understands that many people feel the same as Scofield, but he said that Boots is “going to be fine,” and he believes the alligator stayed as long as he did in Port Aransas because he no longer has the ability to hunt. In living at Gator Country now, Boots will receive the food and care he needs without putting himself or the public at risk. Scofield said she plans on visiting Gator Country to see him, which many others will likely do as well.
Saurage wanted to use the attention surrounding Boots’s relocation to impart the same wisdom as Maggie Berger. “Please do not feed a wild alligator. It is a death sentence for an alligator because it gets too close to people, and then something bad can happen,” he said. It’s a good reminder that sometimes even when we have the best intentions, we don’t always have the information or knowledge we need to make the right call for the creatures who occupy the world alongside us.
