A group of girls visiting a Long Island nature preserve stumbled on an alligator wandering loose on a trail, and managed to keep the animal contained until rescuers arrived to haul it away.
The Strong Island Animal Rescue League responded Thursday to the Holtsville Ecology Center in Long Island, New York, after reports came in that an alligator was on the loose at the preserve. The gator had apparently been abandoned there by an unknown owner, and visitors discovered it moving along one of the facility's trails.
A group of girls at the preserve spotted the animal first. Rather than flee, they corralled it and held it in place until the rescue team could get on scene, a move that likely prevented the alligator from slipping deeper into the grounds or posing a wider risk to other visitors.
The Strong Island Animal Rescue League posted about the incident on Facebook, describing a scene that fell well short of the dramatic wrestle they had braced for:
"We quickly got there thinking we were going to have to wrestle an alligator but he was a little guy and already contained."
The rescue league did not specify the alligator's exact size, species, or weight. "A little guy" was the only description offered. Still, any alligator loose at a public nature preserve, particularly one visited by families and children, is no small matter, regardless of the animal's dimensions.
After securing the gator, the rescue team turned it over to the New York Department of Environmental Conservation. The state agency took custody of the animal for veterinary care and rehabilitation, UPI reported.
The Strong Island Animal Rescue League did not hold back about whoever dumped the alligator at the preserve. In the same social media post, the organization issued a blunt warning:
"This is a serious problem and needs to be addressed as it's not good for many reasons letting this or any animal loose like this."
No owner has been identified. No arrests or charges were reported in connection with the abandonment. It remains unclear how the alligator ended up at the Holtsville Ecology Center or how long it had been roaming before the girls found it.
The Holtsville Ecology Center sits in Suffolk County on Long Island and operates as a nature preserve open to the public. An alligator is not native wildlife for the region, which makes the abandonment all the more conspicuous, and the lack of any identified responsible party all the more frustrating for the rescuers who had to clean up the mess.
Dumping exotic animals in public spaces puts visitors, wildlife, and the animals themselves at risk. The girls who held the gator in place deserve credit for keeping their heads. The person who left it there deserves a visit from law enforcement.
