A “cold shocked” alligator was captured by park wardens after being spotted swimming in an inner New York City park lake.
Park wardens stumbled across the sickly alligator in Brooklyn’s Prospect Park at 8.30am on Sunday with rangers snaring the lost reptile and rushing it to the Bronx Zoo for rehabilitation.
They said the 4-foot (1.2m) crocodilian appeared lethargic, in a state of cold shock and was likely illegally dumped in the park as an unwanted pet.
Alligators typically live in tropical climates and are native to the southeastern United States.
A nearby fisherman told the NY Post he was glad he didn’t unwittingly hook the reptile.
“I don’t think I’d get it in, that’s for sure,” the man said. “I’d cut the line and get the hell out of here.”
“We’re grateful to our Parks Enforcement Patrol and Urban Park Rangers who snapped into action to capture and transport the alligator,” a spokesperson for NYC Parks said in a statement.
Department spokesman Dan Kastanis added: “Parks are not suitable homes for animals not indigenous to those parks – domesticated or otherwise.
“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.”
No one was harmed in the process of the animal’s capture and transport to the zoo, the department said.
For years, New Yorkers have pondered the myth that alligators roam the city’s sewer system, even celebrating Alligators in the Sewers Day as an unofficial February holiday.
Sightings like Sunday’s help keep the urban legend alive, but experts throw cold water on the sewer theory. Alligators aren’t suited to the sewer system’s frigid, toxic environment, they say.
