An alligator was found in the lake of one of the parks in Brooklyn

The alligator was found early on the morning of February 19 in a lake in Prospect Park (Brooklyn). The reptile, which lives in warmer climates, was "very lethargic and possibly hypothermic" and had to be hauled out of the water by Parks Department officials. The edition told in more detail AMNY.

The alligator was loaded into a cage and taken to the Brooklyn Animal Care Center in East New York for a medical examination, where it was named Godzilla. The 4-foot (1,2 m) creature is now recovering at the Bronx Zoo, a spokesman said.

“We are grateful to our park patrol and city park rangers who have taken action to capture and transport the alligator,” said Parks Department spokeswoman Megan Lalor. “Fortunately, no one was hurt.”

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Lalor said that Godzilla, clearly not a New Yorker, was probably a pet abandoned in the lake. Leaving pets in city parks is not only cruel, but also illegal.

“Parks are not a suitable home for animals that do not live in these parks,” Lalor said. "In addition to being a potential hazard to park visitors, the release of non-native or unwanted pets could lead to the extinction of native species and degrade water quality."

The alligator was far from the first unwanted pet thrown into Prospect Park's lake. The favorite turtles that inhabit the lake and sunbathe on its rocky outcroppings are mostly red-eared turtles, a species not native to New York but popular as a pet. The parks department and turtle experts say the population is made up of abandoned domestic animals or their descendants; those that survived became invasive species, crowding out other tortoise species.