The alligator has been seen multiple times, and officials are trying to locate it before it succumbs to cold temperatures.
A small alligator was spotted in a lagoon along the Charles River Esplanade. Courtesy of Whitney Lieberman
At around 8 a.m. on Tuesday morning, as Whitney Lieberman ran to work along the Charles River Esplanade, an unusual sight caught her eye. Suspended in the water of the Turtle Pond lagoon, head sticking above the surface, was a small alligator with bright markings.
Lieberman runs the same route multiple times a week, and has seen plenty of interesting wildlife along the water. But the little creature caught her by “complete surprise.”
“I immediately texted my coworkers a picture and asked whether seeing an alligator in the Charles was a decent excuse to be late to my morning meeting,” she told Boston.com.
Lieberman also took a short video, then called state officials with MassWildlife. She left a message with her location and a few details. She did not interact with the animal.
On Wednesday morning, Lieberman posted one of her photos to Reddit. Dozens of commenters weighed in, and users shared other recent reports about the alligator.
MassWildlife officials say they are aware of videos of the animal. Officials are coordinating with Boston Animal Control and the Massachusetts Environmental Police to locate and capture it.
Alligators are not native to Massachusetts and cannot survive frigid temperatures, according to MassWildlife. Winter-like conditions arrived in Boston this week, with the city seeing a low of 34 degrees on Tuesday, according to the National Weather Service.
Alligators can survive some cold conditions through brumation, a process similar to hibernation, but younger and smaller alligators may be more susceptible to the cold.
It is illegal to keep any crocodilian species in Massachusetts, including an alligator, as a pet.
This is not the first time an alligator has been spotted in the Charles. A four-foot-long alligator was pulled from the river in Needham in 2010 after being reported by a canoeist.
Lieberman says she hasn’t been contacted by officials or received any other updates about the animal.
“I hope he gets rescued before it gets too cold for him to survive, and that he gets to live a long, happy life at a reptile rescue,” she said.
Ross CristantielloStaff Writer
Ross Cristantiello, a general assignment news reporter for Boston.com since 2022, covers local politics, crime, the environment, and more.
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