Still images:

Movie:

There have always been stories of creatures found in our sewers, but alligators in the sewers are just an urban legend... aren't they?

This alligator was discovered in a sewer in Mississippi during the effort to assess and clean the main following Hurricane Katrina in the Fall of 2005. As the film shows, the alligator was found in the sewer main during CCTV assessment work .... shortly thereafter, the alligator made short work of the CCTV effort by biting down on the cable.

Experienced people aided in gaining control of the reptile and arranging for its physical removal from the sewer, as shown in the two still photos. The alligator most likely entered the sewer through an opening/wash-out of the main - a break likely caused by the physical/erosive forces of the hurricane.

Source: Tim Ware of Garner Environmental Services, Inc. (of Lytle, Texas).

A construction crew in a southeasterly state found this alligator in a culvert. The gator is 18' 2" long.

Source: Mike Fleury of Brown & Caldwell (original source unknown).

A construction crew found these snakes in a culvert. The rattlesnake roundup total - 87!

Source: Mike Fleury of Brown & Caldwell (original source unknown).

Africanized bees (also known as "killer bees") on the bottom of a manhole cover in Tucson, Arizona, 2006. When operators suspect bees are present, they spray pesticide through the pick holes prior to removing the cover.

Source: Eric Wieduwilt, Pima County Wastewater Management Department.

Source: John Heisler and Richard Beck of Insituform Technologies, Inc.

Placing rat poison in sewers in Paris, France. Date unknown.

Source: Bruno de Ville d'Avray, Mairie de Paris / Direction de la protection de l'environnement, Section de l'assainissement de Paris.

US Stamp showing cockroach.

US stamp showing cockroaches.