Manhattan's Alligator Has Been Captured

Photos Courtesy of Lisa Bass

If we didn’t know any better, we’d think that alligator is smiling for the camera.

A 2- to 3-foot long “alligator” spotted in a pond in Manhattan has been snared by the Department of Natural Resources. The creature, believed to be a small alligator or a caiman native to Central and South America, is assumed to be someone’s former pet. The reptile can be bought as babies at about 6 inches long, and kept in aquariums. If they outgrow the aquarium, owners have been known to release them into retention ponds.

But the pets can’t fend for themselves in the wild, particularly as temperatures drop.

“They said 10 degrees cooler and he’d be dead,” said resident Lisa Bass.

Police were first alerted to the lil’ guy in the pond near Leighlinbridge subdivision at Gougar and Sweedler roads Thursday night. He had not been spotted as of Friday morning, but police and DNR officers were working on it. By nighttime, he was in the right hands.

“He told us he will take it home and quarantine it,” Bass said, of DNR. “They will do fecal matter testing to try to determine how long it has been in that pond. ... Then it will be relocated, I’m not sure where but hopefully back in the wild somewhere south.”

Residents embraced its wild newcomer, even brainstorming names for him via a town Facebook page. (”Fluffy,” “Manny,” “Mr. Pickles,” “Alligougar,” and “Scales O’Toothy” were some of our favorites.)

All were happy to hear that he was found and is safe.

“I sure hope the little fella is warm now,” wrote one resident on a Facebook page. “Poor thing, hope he ends up in a happy place.”