Cops in a Clinton Hill precinct became alligator wranglers on Sunday after a man dropped off this two-foot-long baby croc claiming that he had found it in a nearby park.
Officers at the 88th Precinct stationhouse on Classon Avenue did not believe the man, but took the gator, tossed him into the back of a squad car, and drove it to the Center for Animal Care and Control in East New York.
Just another day at the office, said Capt. Anthony Tasso, the precinct’s commander.
“It wasn’t a big deal,” he said. “We get people dropping off animals here all the time.”
The rogue reptile was most likely the man’s pet — but grew larger than he expected, said Richard Gentles of the Center for Animal Care and Control.
“Some people keep reptiles illegally as pets until they become unmanageable,” Gentles said, adding that the center would likely send the rogue reptile to a rehabilitation center, as it had probably never been in the wild before.
“Animals hand raised in captivity, or a person’s home, typically don’t have the skills to survive on their own,” he said.
The Parks Department was not aware of any alligator spotting in Brooklyn over the weekend. It is illegal to keep alligators at home, but the man was not arrested.
