{"id":133474,"date":"2025-11-13T19:48:11","date_gmt":"2025-11-13T19:48:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/133474\/"},"modified":"2025-11-13T19:48:11","modified_gmt":"2025-11-13T19:48:11","slug":"small-alligator-rescued-in-boston-after-slithering-into-the-citys-heart-on-social-media","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/133474\/","title":{"rendered":"Small alligator rescued in Boston after slithering into the city’s heart on social media"},"content":{"rendered":"

BOSTON (AP) \u2014 It wasn\u2019t a croc \u2014 there really was an alligator on the loose in Boston.<\/p>\n

And the story of the city\u2019s slithering saurian appears to have a happy ending. The small alligator, spotted along the Charles River in Boston multiple times this week, has been rescued and delivered to safety, wildlife officials in Massachusetts said Thursday.<\/p>\n

The approximately foot-long crocodilian startled a few people and became an instant star on social media after confused onlookers took videos of it slithering away from sight. But the animal is not native to Massachusetts, and couldn\u2019t possibly survive the harsh New England winter, so the search for the wayward gator was on.<\/p>\n

A local wildlife educator captured the critter on Wednesday night, and it\u2019s now awaiting a permanent home, officials said.<\/p>\n

Harvard University graduate student Whitney Lieberman was among the residents who caught a glimpse of the exotic visitor. She said she notified wildlife authorities when she saw the creature while she was jogging to work.<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, I did a double-take. For a second, I had to check myself \u2014 alligators are not native to Boston waterways, right?\u201d Lieberman said. \u201cI texted my co-workers because I had a morning meeting: \u2018Hey guys, this is a good excuse to be late for work. There is an alligator right in front of me and I don\u2019t know what to do.’\u201d<\/p>\n

The animal was in jeopardy due to the chilly temperatures on the Charles, which was 51 degrees Fahrenheit (32 degrees Celsius) on Thursday. Alligators prefer temperatures above 80 degrees Fahrenheit (27 degrees Celsius). They are cold-blooded and can\u2019t regulate their own temperature, so they enter a dormant, energy-saving state called brumation<\/a> to survive colder temperatures.<\/p>\n

Joe Kenney, who runs a wildlife education business called Joe\u2019s Craz-zy Critters, captured the alligator, the Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife said in a statement. The state has temporarily authorized Kenney to keep the alligator while it evaluates the best long-term placement for it, the department said.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Kenney, of Abington, Massachusetts, said the animal is a young alligator that is fairly harmless to humans. He said fans of the reptile have reached out to him and some have asked to name it \u201cCharles.\u201d Kenny said the animal was probably an impulse purchase, but it\u2019s not a good idea for a pet.<\/p>\n

\u201cAn alligator isn\u2019t designed to live in a fish tank. Really, ideally, it should be living out in the swamp in the southern United States,\u201d Kenney said. \u201cAnd they can get pretty big. So even though this guy is still little, by the time he\u2019s somewhere around 10, 15 years old, he\u2019ll be an adult alligator.\u201d<\/p>\n

Adult alligators can be more than 11 feet (3.4 meters) long and weigh more than 500 pounds (227 kilograms).<\/p>\n

The wildlife department said the alligator\u2019s appearance is still under investigation, but added it was most likely a pet that escaped or was intentionally released.<\/p>\n

\u201cMassWildlife is working in close collaboration with the Environmental Police to find a safe home for this alligator as an educational animal with a permitted facility. This incident serves as an important reminder that it is not legal to keep alligators or any crocodilian species as pets in Massachusetts,\u201d state herpetologist Mike Jones said in a statement.<\/p>\n

Alligators have a history of occasionally showing up in urban areas far from their native ranges. One, dubbed Chance the Snapper, turned up in Chicago in summer 2019<\/a> and was eventually trapped. Another one showed up on the Charles River in the Boston area in 2010.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

Whittle reported from Scarborough, Maine.<\/p>\n

\"SmallThis image provided by Whitney Lieberman shows a small alligator sighted on the Charles River Esplanade, Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2025 in Boston. (Whitney Lieberman via AP)<\/p>\n

\"SmallFILE \u2013 Crew teams prepare to train at dawn on the Charles River at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology boat house, Oct. 6, 2025, in Cambridge, Mass. (AP Photo\/Charles Krupa, File)<\/p>\n

\"SmallJoe Kenney holds an alligator he rescued after it was discovered in Boston\u2019s Charles River, Thursday, Nov. 13, 2025 in Abington, Mass. (AP Photo\/Rodrique Ngowi)<\/p>\n

\"SmallJoe Kenney holds an alligator he rescued after it was discovered in Boston\u2019s Charles River, Thursday, Nov. 13, 2025 in Abington, Mass. (AP Photo\/Rodrique Ngowi)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BOSTON (AP) \u2014 It wasn\u2019t a croc \u2014 there really was an alligator on the loose in Boston.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":133475,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[111,139,69,147,406],"class_list":{"0":"post-133474","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wildlife","8":"tag-new-zealand","9":"tag-newzealand","10":"tag-nz","11":"tag-science","12":"tag-wildlife"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/133474","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=133474"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/133474\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/133475"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=133474"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=133474"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=133474"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}