"I chuckled to myself at first, I thought, 'This can't be real,'" said Mark Harrison.
Pharmacist Mark Harrison was enjoying his day off on Lake Sinclair when he came across an unusual sight.
"I was fishing in shallow water for bass like I normally do, and coming down the cove and, lo and behold, I look up on the bank and I see an alligator," Harrison said.
Harrison says at first, he thought it was a prank or yard art, but as he got closer, he knew it was real.
Finding an alligator on the lake was a surprise, and so was the location.
"It was a very residential neighborhood, which was a shock to me," Harrison said. "I would've expected him to be in a more wild area."
Harrison says nearly 15 years ago, he thought he saw an alligator on Lake Sinclair, but his family and friend doubted him. So this time, he had his camera ready. Harrison says he had no idea how much traction the video would get when he posted it to Facebook.
"I expected to have maybe 3 or 400 views on it, from friends and family," Harrison said. "I posted it on there late Monday evening, came to work Tuesday, and by the time I got off work Tuesday, it had over 25,000 views."
Harrison says people have all sorts of reactions, including fear.
"I've had a lot of people that are scared and putting comments that they don't want to swim anymore, which is really ridiculous," Harrison said. "This is a small gator that's no threat to humans."
Harrison estimates the gator is only 2 or 3 feet long... for now.
"I do have concerns that there may be a larger gator. "We don't know if this one was born here or not," Harrison said. "I think that's what needs to be investigated by the authorities."
But he says he wasn't trying to alarm anyone by posting the video, just to warn them.
"People have said, 'Why do you think there would be gators in Sinclair?' And my answer to that is, 'Why do you think there would not be gators in Sinclair?' It's a large body of freshwater with tons of natural resources," Harrison said. "Why wouldn't there be gators there?"
According to DNR, there are approximately 200,000 alligators in Georgia. And Lake Sinclair is as about far north as you'll find them. DNR says alligators live and reproduce south of the fall line.