A BABY alligator named Carlos has broken out of a U.S. zoo in Michigan, thanks to a large tortoise that regularly strolls around the area.

    Gary Moore, who runs the GarLyn Zoo in Mackinac County, suspects that the 30.48-cm hatchling was able to sneak under the double fence because the tortoise wore the dirt away from the bottom of the railing. Moore didn’t notice that Carlos was gone until a state police trooper stopped by the zoo July 20 to ask if a gator was missing. It turned out someone saw Carlos along the highway where the 12-hectare facility is located, but no one wrangled him, so he’s still on the loose.

    The alligator isn’t dangerous, but Moore thinks the young reptile won’t survive in the outside world past October, when much of Michigan ices over for winter.

    Carlos is the first animal to escape in the 21 years that the zoo has been open, according to Moore.

    The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service removed the American alligator from the endangered species list in 1987 after the reptile bounced back from being hunted to near extinction decades before. Today more than a million alligators freely roam the waters of Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas — where hunting is regulated. (SD-Agencies)