The Atchison County Sheriff’s Office says an alligator that was released into a county lake has been reunited with its owner.

Investigators say Waylon Saxton was unlikely to face charges after his alligator, named Cletus, was discovered shot and wounded in the lake after he disappeared last month.

Saxton says his alligator disappeared during a party at the lake. He says he didn’t report it because he was afraid whoever took the 3-foot-long animal would kill it.  The alligator recovered from its wounds at an animal rescue facility in Greenwood, Mo.

The sheriff’s department tracked down the alligator’s owner, who got the alligator back Saturday. He says he’ll keep the animal in more secure pen.