Prospect Park gator was not the first found in New York
NEW YORK >> An emaciated alligator found in Prospect Park on Sunday was the latest in a long line of saw-toothed reptiles found all over the city, raising several obvious questions: What? How? And why does this keep happening?
The animals appear in the city often enough to bolster a century-old rumor about alligators roaming in the sewer system, probably first inspired by the 1935 discovery of one — roughly 8 feet long — in an East Harlem storm drain. Films such as “Alligator” over the years have added even more intrigue. Sometimes, a year or two go by between urban alligator discoveries, but five were captured in Brooklyn and Staten Island between 2018 and 2019 alone.
The past three years have been a dry spell. Animal Care Centers of New York City, which is often called in when an alligator is spotted, had not received a single report about alligators since 2019, said Katy Hansen, the organization's communications director.
But the city was once again captivated Sunday, when a female alligator, later named Godzilla, was pulled from Prospect Park Lake in Brooklyn by a maintenance worker with the city's Department of Parks and Recreation.
The American alligator, who was about 5 feet long and was taken to the Bronx Zoo for treatment, had ingested a 4-inch wide bathtub stopper and was “lethargic and suffering from exposure to cold temperatures,” according to a zoo statement Wednesday. An alligator of her size should weigh 30 to 35 pounds; she weighed 15, the statement said. She was the sixth alligator that Animal Care Centers, a group that finds homes for abandoned and homeless animals, has helped to rescue in the city since 2018, according to Hansen.
Aside from the boroughs in which the recent crop of alligators were found and the names Animal Care Centers gives them, information about them — how they got here and where they are now — is difficult to find, Hansen said.
Alligators are not native to New York. They prefer Southern climates and usually are not found farther north than South Carolina. To make it so far north, they probably either come by mail or prospective owners must travel to pick them up.
“You can't buy them in New York City,” Hansen said. The pandemic may have led to a decrease in the animals because travel was more restricted, she added. And although mailing them may be legal, at least when they are babies, owning them as pets in New York City is not, according to the city.