A fisherman on Norris Lake caught something he was not expecting at all Monday afternoon.

A Union County Tennessee Wildlife Resource Officer received a call from an angler, stating that they had caught a 3 to 4-foot-long alligator in the Dotson Creek or Butcher Hollow area on Norris Lake, just above the Highway 33 Bridge.

The alligator was taken to the Little Ponderosa Zoo in Anderson County, where it is being held temporarily until a permanent place can be found for it.

Alligators are not native to East Tennessee.

TWRA officials say the only area of Tennessee with alligators is the Southwest part of Tennessee, and those alligators are there because of a natural range expansion from the southern states.

Officials believe the alligator found in Norris Lake was brought from another state to Tennessee and released there. The TWRA says both actions are illegal in the state,