Alligator found in New York creek moved to reptile sanctuary
HAVERSTRAW, N.Y. -- An alligator found in a cold New York creek is safe and on its way to a reptile sanctuary upstate after "warming up" at the Hudson Valley Humane Society.
George Barbera spotted the alligator Thursday in the Minisceongo Creek in Garnersville, a hamlet in Rockland County, and called police.
Officers lured gator with chunk of meat on fishing pole
"I saw a little alligator!" Berbera said. "Once we got him on the land, wasn't as small as I thought he was."
To get the gator out of the creek, officers from the Haverstraw Police Department tried offering it a chunk of meat hooked to a fishing pole. But the cold-blooded reptile barely moved.
"He just went around in a circle and came right back to the sunlight right here," Barbera said.
Eventually, officers snagged it with a catch pole and turned it over to the humane society in Pomona.
"He was cold" and "in a subdued kind of mood"
A herpetology expert from the Bronx Zoo examined the juvenile male alligator and said it was "in pretty good shape," a humane society social media post said.
"We could tell that he was cold because he was in a subdued kind of mood, you know," said Ann Marie Gaudio, with the Hudson Valley Humane Society.
The humane society said it was debating naming it "Philippe" or "Al E. Gator," and asked the community to weigh in.
The alligator is being taken to a licensed reptile sanctuary in Ulster County, where it could live for 50 years.
Police actively investigating who put alligator in creek
Haverstraw Police are actively investigating who put the alligator in the creek.
"I think he was dumped. I do think he was dumped," Gaudio said, which is illegal. "It's called abandonment under New York State Agriculture and Markets laws."
You need a license to own an alligator in New York, but some people buy them in Pennsylvania before realizing the creature is more than they can handle.
Advocates said to always ask for help if you can't care for an animal, domestic or exotic, and never abandon them.