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October Surprise: 6th Alligator Found On Long Island This Month!
By
Jen Chung
Published Oct 21, 2012
Modified Oct 21, 2012
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By
Jen Chung
Published Oct 21, 2012
Modified Oct 21, 2012
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Trick or treat: A three-foot-long alligator was found in Suffolk County yesterday, making it the sixth such creature found on Long Island this month—and the seventh since September 28!
According to MyFoxNY, "SPCA officials said the alligator was found at Lily Pond County Park in an area where children play. Officials said the alligator could not have survived the cold weather if it wasn't discovered."
Newsday has a rundown of the previous gator discoveries, "In recent weeks, Long Island has resembled the Florida Everglades, with young alligators popping up in a supermarket shopping center, outside a chain restaurant and on a golf course. The first was captured on Sept. 28 on the front lawn of a house in Mastic Beach. Days later, a gator was found on a Wading River golf course. Then two more were found crawling across the parking lot of a supermarket in Baldwin. A fifth gator was spotted in a plastic container outside an Applebee's restaurant in Shirley." Roy Gross of the Suffolk County SPCA says another one was found in Yaphank two weeks ago.
Alligators are not legal as pets, and publicly releasing one "could lead to a year in jail," according to WCBS 2. Gross added, "If you want to see an alligator... go to a zoo."
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Jen Chung
Jen Chung is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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