Ben, count heads. I think one fell of the truck on your way through Illinois.

Authorities on Friday captured an alligator from Bubbly Creek, the Chicago River?s most notorious stretch. Authorities on Friday captured an alligator from Bubbly Creek, the Chicago River?s most notorious stretch.

"Thirty employees ran to my office yelling, 'There?s an alligator in the river,'" said B.J. McDonald, part-owner/operations manager of the company his family has owned for nearly 30 years. "I thought, 'Oh, you?re looking at a rat or carp.'"

Seeing massive jaws and a powerful tail on the water?s surface, McDonald knew this was no wet rat.

McDonald said in the 30 years his family has owned the factory on Bubbly Creek, they?ve watched the horribly polluted river return to life. The fact White Sox deigned to swim in the river?s once-fetid waters shows environmental cleanup efforts are working, he said.