A US police department has warned citizens not to flush their drugs down the toilet, telling criminals that the act could create "meth-gators."
The police in Loretto, Tennessee, posted the plea on Facebook after officers executed a search warrant on a local property and discovered the occupant trying to flush methamphetamine and drug paraphernalia down his toilet.
The post said: "Now our sewer guys take great pride in releasing water that is cleaner than what is in the creek, but they are not really prepared for meth."
It went on to say that "ducks, geese, and other fowl frequent our treatment ponds and we shudder to think what one all hyped up on meth would do".
But the post didn't stop there, warning that much bigger creatures downstream could find themselves consuming the drug.
"Furthermore, if it made it far enough we could create meth-gators in Shoal Creek and the Tennessee River down in North Alabama."
The flushing of the drugs downstream to Alabama is causing concern because that state already has animal drug issues of its own.
Last month, Alabama police said a man kept a caged "attack squirrel" in his apartment and fed it methamphetamine to make it more aggressive.
Mickey Joel Paulk was charged with illegal possession of wildlife but he has denied allegations that he fed meth to the squirrel.
While the effects of meth on alligators is not known, a 2017 case in Australia led to a python needing six weeks of detox after it was rescued from a meth lab in New South Wales.
