NEW YORK CITY — A four-foot alligator was pulled from Prospect Park Lake in New York City.
“That's definitely not something that I expected to hear on our walk in the park on a 60-degree day in February,” said a pedestrian.
She has been dubbed "Moses" and "Godzilla" on the internet, but the reptile was lethargic, emaciated and suffering from hypothermia when it was found.
“I can't imagine how. What shelter [was there]? The pond has been frozen for a few months,” said the pedestrian.
“This poor alligator had to have been dumped, it got too big...” said another pedestrian.
The alligator was spotted by a maintenance worker in Prospect Park Lake near Duck Pond Island on Sunday, Feb. 19. Park rangers didn’t think it had very long. Because of its size, they say someone would have seen it before then.
“[It's] definitely a surprise. I just arrived at work on Sunday morning and [the] Park Enforcement Sergeant had called me that she was alerted about an alligator in the park,” said a park ranger.
The alligator was close to the bank, so they were able to snare it very easily. Park rangers say it didn’t put up a fight at all.
“It wasn't moving very much so we lifted it. Actually, one of our operations supervisors took the snare around its mouth while the park enforcement sergeant and I had to lift it to get it into the crate,” said the park ranger.
It was taken to the Animal Care Center in east New York, where it got warm and started showing some signs of life. It is now at the Bronx Zoo receiving medical care and rehab.
“Definitely, we could have found it dead easily. So it's sad that people think they can keep wild animals as pets,” said the park ranger.
