Authorities captured an alligator in a New Jersey river after a fisherman and police both spotted one of the reptiles floating in the Passaic River on Wednesday.
Elmwood Park Police Chief Mike Foligno said officers saw a 4-foot-long alligator in the water off of River Drive after being called to the scene by a fisherman. After the sighting, they called state wildlife officials to hunt down the creature.
Authorities tracked the reptile for nearly two hours before corralling it. Chopper 4 footage from the scene showed one searcher stirred a rod in the water before another can be seeing pulling the gator out with a catch pole.
“I think it was probably someone’s pet that got too big so they released it into the wild,” Foligno said.
The fisherman who spotted the gator, Luis Acosta, said that at first he thought it was a snapping turtle. But, he said, he saw a long tail and called police.
He said he was shocked to see the gator in the chilly northern waters of New Jersey.
“It was cool to watch, ya know, but it don’t belong around here,” he said.
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