6-foot alligator snapped up outside Mich. church

JACKSON, Mich. (AP) -- Police have caught a 6-foot-long alligator that was spotted roaming the property of a southern Michigan church.

A motorist driving past the Pathway Community Church near Jackson Monday saw the reptile Monday and called the police.

The Jackson Citizen Patriot reports (http://bit.ly/u2A1xB ) that officers slipped a noose around the alligator's head and secured its mouth with duct tape.

Police say the alligator is in good health and will be sent to a sanctuary.

Blackman-Leoni Township public safety department Deputy Director Jon Johnston says the alligator was probably only recently released into the wild. Johnston says the animal would not have been able to survive the harsh temperatures of the approaching Michigan winter.