State officials are coming up with a long-term plan for a small alligator caught in the frigid water of the Charles River near Back Bay in Boston this week.
An American alligator caught Wednesday night by Joseph Kenney, an animal educator with Joe’s Crazzy Critters, will be temporarily housed with the Massachusetts-based company specializing in exotic animals.
“On behalf of MassWildlife, I’d like to thank Joe Kenney for his effort to rescue the Charles River alligator last night,” Dr. Mike Jones, a MassWildlife state herpetologist, told MassLive on Thursday. “Alligators cannot survive Massachusetts’ cold winters.”
MassWildlife is working in close collaboration with the Environmental Police to find a safe home for the alligator as an educational animal with a permitted facility, Jones said.
“This incident serves as an important reminder that it is not legal to keep alligators or any crocodilian species as pets in Massachusetts,” he added.
Kenney has an educational permit for alligators, so state officials have temporarily authorized him to keep the small reptile while MassWildlife officials evaluate the best long-term placement for the animal.
How the alligator arrived on the Charles River shores remains a mystery, but officials are investigating.
It is most likely an illegal pet that escaped or was intentionally released, officials said.
Alligators are not native to Massachusetts. Alligators cannot survive in cold temperatures, like those we experience during winters in Massachusetts.
How was the ‘gator captured?
Kenney took to social media to show the small reptile in his hands Wednesday night. He said it took about 15 minutes, using a flashlight and a headlamp, to find the alligator in the Charles River waters near Back Bay in Boston.
“With the cold temps, the alligator had very low chances of surviving,” Kenney said in an Instagram post.
The alligator first surfaced on social media after a jogger along the river spotted the small reptile. The video showed the alligator, black with bright yellowish-white bands, among fallen leaves — a strange sight in New England.
It crawled backwards into the water after flashing its tiny teeth.
MassWildlife was alerted to the alligator by someone who saw it earlier this week. If you were wondering, no, it is not legal to have an alligator as a pet in Massachusetts. The same goes for crocodiles, caimans and gavials (a crocodile with a long, narrow snout).
Whitney Lieberman saw the alligator on a run and saw it floating in the waters of Turtle Pond on the Charles River bike path. She posted a photo to Reddit.
“My assumption is that he is someone’s pet who was either lost or dumped (but he still gave me QUITE a jump scare at 7AM),” she wrote in the post.
Kenney said online that he caught the baby gator after an interview with NBC Boston and learning more about where it was spotted.
“He was tucked into some reeds, kind of along the edge there, in about a foot-and-a-half of water,” Kenney told NBC Boston. “He was just tucked in and laying on the bottom.”
MassLive reached out to Kenney for comment.
For now, the alligator is warm and housed with Joe’s Crazzy Critter as they learn more and get instructions on what’s next.
“We are hoping that he will be a new resident and ambassador here at Joe’s Crazzy Critters,” Kenney said in the post.
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