Playboy, a 3-foot-long alligator, is measured after being rescued in a pond in Van Buren Township, Mich., Monday, Aug. 6, 2001.

VAN BUREN TOWNSHIP, Mich. (AP) - A 3-foot long alligator, on the lam for nearly a week after escaping from an animal shelter, was captured Monday by authorities who had discovered its murky hide-out.

The gator, named Playboy by its original owner, escaped Aug. 2 from an animal shelter after officials took it from the owners' apartment porch. Although there is not an ordinance against owning exotic animals here, the alligator was deemed unsafe and impounded in a fenced-in area.

But Playboy somehow slipped out of the pen, and police and animal control officials were certain he would find his way to wetlands nearby. Volunteers canvassing the area eventually spotted him in a shallow pond, where officials waited for hours Monday in the muggy marsh.

"Especially after being raised in captivity, this is like vacationing in Maui for him," said police Officer Charles Bazzy.

A team of three police officers in dry suits and two volunteers waded the length of the chest-deep pond several times Monday before grabbing the alligator, which spent most of the day peering out from the algae with one eye and the hint of a snout.

Playboy slithered up the shoulder of a partially submerged police officer before the rest the team moved in to wrestle him out. Animal Control Officer Al Ostrowski dove in to help secure the alligator as it scrambled to get away.

"I didn't know what it was going to do, so I just went in after him,'' Ostrowski said. ``I feel great."

Playboy appeared uninjured and likely will be turned over to the Michigan Humane Society.