While search continues in Lake Erie for an alligator, could York County have one too?

Editor's Note: This story ran earlier this year in the York Daily Record. An alligator has been spotted in Lake Erie and a search is ongoing for the animal.

Nathan Miller was fishing in Lake Redman in York County’s William Kain Monday evening, casting into the lake from the ledge of the bridge near Hess Farm Road.

More: Gator spotted in Lake Erie Where is the alligator in Lake Erie? Tracks spotted on search's third day

It’s a popular fishing spot. He wasn’t alone. His girlfriend was with him, and there were kids fishing with their parents nearby. Miller, a 26-year-old bartender at the White Rose Bar & Grill, has fished there since he was a toddler, he said. It’s a good spot, not far from the parking lot and an inlet on the lake that’s the habitat for bass.

He was casting into the water when his girlfriend, who was behind him, asked, “What’s that?”

He looked over and saw a ripple on the surface of the lake. It was something big. His girlfriend speculated that it was a dog swimming in still waters. He thought maybe it was a beaver; those critters can displace a good amount of water, their swimming leaving a decent wake behind them.

But this was no beaver.

It was scaly. Its eyes were atop its lengthy head. Ridges along its back poked through the lake’s surface. It was passing under the bridge and was about two feet away, he said. “It was so close, I could see it,” he said.

“It was definitely an alligator,” Miller said. “I know what a beaver looks like, and it wasn’t a beaver.”

He grabbed his camera and recorded a quick video, before the gator swam away. “It moved pretty fast,” he said.

He and his girlfriend thought it wasn’t safe to be fishing in such proximity to a critter that has razor-sharp teeth and a propensity to sink them into anything that comes close.

More gator news: Wally goes viral. The missing emotional support alligator has made international news.

Wally gator news: Emotional support alligator offers comfort – paired with razor-sharp teeth

As they left, a park ranger was driving by. He waved him down. It took a couple of tries as the ranger told him later that he thought he was just waving hello.

He told the ranger he saw a gator in the lake.

The ranger was skeptical. Lake Redman isn’t exactly a habitat for gators.

But then again, stranger things have happened.

Miller posted the video he recorded of the critter on Facebook. Among the responses was one person who was sure it was a beaver. “It wasn’t a beaver,” Miller said. “Beavers don’t have eyes on the tops of their heads.”

The possible gator in Lake Redman was the latest gator news in York County. In April, Wally the emotional support alligator went missing in Georgia - his owner, Joie Henney, of York Haven, believes he was gatornapped. The gator spotted in Lake Redman obviously is not Wally, unless he could swim hundreds of miles and traverse over land to make his way home, like a dog in a Disney movie.

Teddy Fisher, assistant director of the York County Parks & Recreation Department, said the department is still looking into the report. The region is not the natural habitat for alligators, so if it is a gator, he speculated that it was a pet that had outgrown its welcome. "We don't know what it is right now," Fisher said. "It's a big lake, and there's a lot of vegetation. It's like looking for a needle in a haystack out there."

Miller also speculated that someone had acquired the gator as a pet, and once it grew from being a lizard into a beast that could take your hand with one chomp, the person dumped it into the lake.

“It’s just crazy,” Miller said. “I don’t know why somebody would dump it into the lake. It’s crazy."

Columnist/reporter Mike Argento has been a York Daily Record staffer since 1982. Reach him at mike@ydr.com.

This article originally appeared on York Daily Record: While search continues in Lake Erie for an alligator, could York County have one too?