NYC Parks staff captured a roughly 4-foot alligator from Prospect Park Lake in Brooklyn on Sunday, Feb. 19, 2023. The alligator was eventually transported to the Bronx Zoo for rehabilitation. (NYC Parks)
It’s no urban legend: An alligator was found in a chilly New York City lake on Sunday, far from the subtropical and tropical climates where such creatures thrive.
The 4-foot (1.2-meter) reptile was pulled from Prospect Park Lake in Brooklyn around 8:30 a.m. and taken to an animal care center and then the Bronx Zoo for medical treatment and rehabilitation.
City officials said the gator appeared lethargic and possibly cold-shocked. It was likely dumped as an unwanted pet, they said. Releasing animals in city parks is illegal. Police are investigating.
For years, New Yorkers have pondered the myth that alligators roam the city’s sewer system, even celebrating Alligators in the Sewers Day as an unofficial February holiday.
Sightings like Sunday’s help keep the urban legend alive, but experts throw cold water on the sewer theory. Alligators aren’t suited to the sewer system's frigid, toxic environment, they say.
A Connecticut man was given nearly $300,000 in fraudulent Home Depot credit by walking into stores in several states, taking expensive doors and then returning them without a receipt, federal prosecutors allege.
A woman who escaped her kidnapper by punching her way out of a cinder block cell at a home in southern Oregon may have spared other women from a similar fate by alerting authorities to a man they now suspect in sexual assaults in at least four more states, the FBI said.
After no big winner Tuesday night, the Mega Millions jackpot climbed to an estimated $1.25 billion. If someone wins it all on Friday, when the next Mega Millions drawing takes place, the prize would be one of the largest in U.S. lottery history.
A Texas police department is apologizing after a typo made while checking a license plate resulted in officers pulling over what they wrongly suspected was a stolen car and then holding an innocent Black family at gunpoint.
