As they say in the song, “If you can make it here, you can make it anywhere.” An alligator found in New York City apparently was forced to take the challenge. Perhaps this signals the beginning of a rash of “teleporting crocodilians” in America?

Alligator on New York’s Long Island

Human beings were not the only ones basking in a sudden spate of warm weather in the US over the weekend.

An alligator was spotted yesterday sunbathing by a small pond, marking a startling sight for a community about 56km from Manhattan.

The reptile, an American alligator, is native to the southern US, and it is against New York State law to own one, said Ray Gross, the chief of the Suffolk County Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

Green with yellowish stripes and roughly 60 centim long, the animal appeared to be about three years old, Gross said.

Its gender was unknown.

Suffolk County police were involved in capturing the alligator, which “wasn’t too happy to see us,” said Officer Vinny O’Shaughnessy.

“We were incredulous at first, but then we knew that we had to do something about it,” he said.

The SPCA is looking for whoever may have released the alligator.From correspondents in Huntington, New York
Australian Broadcasting Company, April 23, 2007

Yes, while this one may have been another escaped pet, I deal with the long ago sightings and origins, since, at least, the 1930s of alligators in the sewers in America, and even Charles Fort’s detailing of the “crazy crocs” reported out-of-place in England in the 1800s, in Mysterious America, to be released on April 24th. Listen to Coast to Coast AM tonight.