Walkers out for a Sunday morning stroll in New York’s Prospect Park in Brooklyn were shocked to find a 1.6m-long American alligator on the banks of a local lake, 700km away from its closest natural habitat.
Park maintenance workers alerted New York’s Parks Enforcement Patrol and Urban Park Rangers, who captured the alligator, a spokesperson for the New York City Parks Department told NBC News.
No one was harmed, and the alligator is now at the Bronx Zoo for rehabilitation, the spokesperson said.
The animal was found in “poor condition” and “very lethargic”, possibly in shock due to the cold water, the spokesperson said. Alligators are not native to New York City and are usually found in warmer water in more tropical climates.
Officials suspect that the reptile was a pet which was either released illegally or escaped.
“Parks are not suitable homes for animals not indigenous to those parks, domesticated or otherwise,” the parks department said.
“In addition to the potential danger to park-goers this could have caused, releasing non-indigenous animals or unwanted pets can lead to the elimination of native species and unhealthy water quality.”
The American alligator lives in the southern US from eastern Texas and Oklahoma to North Carolina and is well known throughout Florida, according to the Smithsonian Zoo. They can be found in slow-moving rivers, ponds, lakes and swamps.
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