Alligator spotted in NJ creek and lake finally caught after week-long search

A little more than a week after being spotted on the loose in New Jersey, this reptile on the run finally got wrangled by police.

An alligator was captured just after 10 p.m. Thursday by Piscataway Township police, the department said. A resident in the Possumtown neighborhood saw the four-foot predator near 2nd Avenue, police said.

Multiple officers responded and eventually the gator was restrained by a patrol officer until the state's Fish and Wildlife Division of the Department of Environmental Protection took custody of it.

The alligator first put residents on alert in late August when the animal was seen in Ambrose Creek. Local police said the animal was spotted again days later in Lake Creighton inside Victor Crowell Park. The park was later closed for 72 hours in an attempt to catch the gator, but efforts at the time were unsuccessful.

While it's still not clear where the cold-blooded (literally) creature came from or how it ended up in the bodies of water, police said that it will eventually be adopted by an area zoo or sanctuary.

Investigators suspect the alligator may have been a pet to someone living in the area and was released into the park at some point.

The state's department of fish and wildfire says it is illegal own alligators or crocodiles in New Jersey.