Authorities in Louisiana said a 6-foot alligator found on the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway may have fallen from a truck crossing the bridge.

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Causeway officer Tiffany Daw responded to reports Saturday of an alligator on the 24-mile bridge and discovered the reptile in the southbound span of the bridge about nine miles from Metairie, The (New Orleans) Times-Picayune reported Thursday.

Sgt. Michael Kelly, Daw's supervisor, arrived soon after the officer.

"He was on all fours," Kelly said Wednesday of the gator. "But you could tell he was stunned, kinda dazed. I thought, 'We can't just leave him here in the road.'"

Kelly said the alligator attempted to bite him, but the animal seemed slow and weak.

"So I ease up behind him, grab his tail and just start walking backward with him," Kelly said.

He said the alligator was lassoed and pulled onto a construction company's truck while awaiting Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries officers.

Department officials said the gator may have been illegally caught and transported. They said an investigation is under way.