An alligator was found at a supermarket parking lot in Pennsylvania on July 19. It’s the fourth gator to be found in the state this year, reported the Shaler Journal.
The 2-foot-long gator was found by an employee around 4 a.m. near a garbage can outside the pharmacy entrance of the grocery store in Shaler Township.
Police Lieutenant Dave Banko said he believes it was dropped off on purpose, or it got lost.
“It looks like a little baby alligator,” Banko said, according to the Shaler Journal. “Someone dropped it off or lost it.”
Shaler Township Police Department wrote on Facebook: “It was turned over to animal control this morning. If this is your alligator, please send us a message.”
Officials from the Big Daddy Wildlife Removal arrived at Giant Eagle supermarket parking lot on Butler Plank Road and determined the gator was about two years old, but could not determine whether the animal is male or female, KDKA reported.
“One of the employees from Giant Eagles was going into work this morning, and she saw him in the parking lot and called the police department,” Paul McIntyre of Big Daddy Wildlife Removal told the CBS affiliate. “Probably wanted some food from up there. He smelled the doughnuts cooking up there.”
Police took the animal back to the department until Big Daddy Wildlife Removal, which has a contract with the city, came to pick it up.
McIntyre said the alligator appeared to be healthy and docile. He also believes it was a pet that someone no longer wanted.
“It was somebody’s pet, I can assure you,” McIntyre said, according to Shaler Journal. “He’s so friendly. Somebody had him as a pet, couldn’t take care of him and let him go.”
According to McIntyre, this wasn’t the first alligator that he had found in the Pittsborough and cited that this alligator was the fourth alligator he had found in the area. McIntyre had been in the wildlife business for 40 years, and had seen his fair number of alligators among other wild animals.
Shaler police say they are working to locate the owner. https://t.co/G7UTxaP1fJ
— Chris Hoffman (@NewsmanChris) July 19, 2019
“They buy him when he’s so many inches long, and then they get this big, they got to get an aquarium, bigger aquarium, bigger aquarium, and then—too much for them to do,” McIntyre said. At the moment, it is not clear where the gator will end up.
“Hopefully he’ll go to a reptile place that does shows at schools with animals,” he said.
KDKA’s Chris Hoffman confirmed on Twitter that police found the alligator’s owner.
Just got a call that Shaler police have located the alligator’s owner.
— Chris Hoffman (@NewsmanChris) July 19, 2019
According to KDKA, this wasn’t the first alligator found in Pittsburgh.
The first one was found in Riverfront Park on the south side by a family that had been fishing. The second alligator found in Pittsburgh was discovered near a garage in a residential area. It was named Chomp by police and was described at the time as unhappy and hissing.
Chomp was taken to the Humane Animal Rescue, reported KDKA. His owner eventually came forward to claim his pet, and is facing animal neglect and cruelty charges after telling police the animal escaped through a window.
The CBS affiliate reported that the third alligator was discovered in Carrick a few days after Chomp was found.
