(CNN) When members of the National Park Service's (NPS) turtle patrol were scouting the South Texas shore for sea turtles, they spotted an unusual visitor -- an American alligator. The alligator was discovered on the sandy Malaquite Beach on the Padre Island National Seashore in Corpus Christi on Monday. "We are kind of speculating that perhaps it was washed out during one of the flooding events in Louisiana," Kelly Taylor, Padre Island National Seashore public information officer, told CNN on Wednesday. "It had a significant amount of algae on it's back that leads us to speculate that it was floating in the Gulf for a while." While it is unknown what flooding event might have brought the gator out to sea, Louisiana has been dealing with several bouts of torrential rain over the past two months that has lead to dangerous flash flooding events for the area.

Source: CNN May 26, 2021 21:33 UTC