According to its website, Joe’s Crazzy Critters is a “Massachusetts-based company that specializes in entertaining and educational exotic animal shows for audiences of all ages.”
The company couldn’t immediately be reached for comment on Thursday.
On Sunday, Trevor Rochelle, 26, was walking along the Esplanade when he saw the small alligator, which is not native to Massachusetts and is illegal to own in the state, according to the state’s Division of Fisheries and Wildlife.
“I kind of nudged it to see if it was real and alive and would move,” he said.
The alligator was indeed alive and hissed when Rochelle tapped its nose with a stick. It then “moonwalked” backwards into one of two lagoons that connect to the Charles River and disappeared from view, he said.
On Tuesday morning, Whitney Lieberman, 28, of East Boston, saw the alligator while she was running to work, again in one of the lagoons.
“He was hard not to notice,” she said. “He was kind of swimming around a little bit.”
“I came to the realization that this is probably someone’s pet,” she added. “Like this is not normal.”
In a statement, a spokesperson for the division of fisheries and wildlife said the officials are “aware of a video showing an alligator that was reportedly taken along the Charles River Bike Path.”
“Alligators cannot survive in cold temperatures,” the spokesperson said. “MassWildlife is coordinating with Boston Animal Control and Massachusetts Environmental Police to locate and capture the animal.”
Rochelle said Wednesday he hopes that officials will find the alligator before it’s too late.
“It does not belong in Boston,” he said. “We’re glad that it’s alive, but now I just want to try to follow up, close the loop, and get it to the right place.”
Truman Dickerson can be reached at truman.dickerson@globe.com.