BELLE CHASSE, La -- There have been more than runs, hits and errors on the baseball diamond at Cypress Park in Belle Chasse this week.
Wild animals have been invading the park on game nights.
"Wild hogs, alligators and snakes, creatures of all kinds," Plaquemines Parish Recreation Department Director Tony Henry said.
Henry put out a tweet urging parents to watch their kids and to be on the look out while at the park.
"A couple of weeks ago we had to get someone to come and and catch an alligator on our field, Henry said. "We usually have 100 or so kids on a daily basis out here. I just want to make them aware to be cautious, so nothing happens."
A number of poisonous snakes have also been spotted including water moccasins and timber rattlers.
Robert Landry coaches his 5-year-old son's t-ball team. He saw a snake after practice the other day.
"When I got to messing with it, the rattler came up and started shaking and striking at the air, so I killed it," Landry said. "I coach the 5-year-olds, so anyone of them, if they would have stepped on it, it would have killed them."
Landry and the other coaches have added a new pre-game ritual.
"We played a game last night and before the game, we got there early and walked the field and made sure there was nothing out there," Landry said.
Parish officials believe the animals are coming from a wooded area next to Cypress Park.
A developer is clearing the land to build a new subdivision.
"It was a wooded area and they cleaned it off and all the snakes and alligators are moving from that wooded area and coming on to our parks," Henry said.
Landry now gives his players special instructions.
"Don't go by the ditches chasing baseballs," Landry said. "Just watch where they go."
So far, no one has been bit or attacked by any wild animal at Cypress Park.