Lil Guy, a Florida alligator missing his top jaw, rescued after finding online fame

An alligator missing his top jaw has been rescued in Florida after a photo of him gained nationwide attention over the past few weeks.

"Lil Guy," as he is affectionately called by a local wildlife advocate, was first spotted at the end of August in Sanford, Florida, about 25 miles north of Orlando. A local woman named Eustacia Kanter snapped a photo of Lil Guy that shows his upper jaw completely missing all the way up to his eyeline.

Kanter said she saw the alligator on a canoe launch at Wilson's Landing, and reached out to a wildlife nonprofit called Bear Warriors United to see if they could help.

"How is he going to eat?" Kanter wrote to the group's executive director, Katrina Shadix, in a Facebook message.

"It's just a little guy and now completely defenseless," she wrote.

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The search begins

The story was picked up by People, Newsweek and ABC News, among hundreds of other outlets.

Through many pleas on Facebook and emails to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and other wildlife organizations, Shadix helped get the search for Lil Guy underway.

Hailee Seely, a spokesperson with the commission, confirmed in an email to USA TODAY that Lil Guy was captured on Thursday evening by a contracted nuisance alligator trapper.

She said they were awaiting further information on the gator's condition, but shared that he was being transferred to Gatorland as of Friday afternoon.

"He's safely resting," Shadix posted on Facebook shortly after his capture.

Shadix said believes Lil Guy lost his jaw in a snare trap, which she's been advocating for years to get banned, along with steel traps, she told USA TODAY.