Alligator found in Brooklyn lake with bath stopper stuck inside it dies after medical treatment
Alligator found in Brooklyn Lake with bath stopper stuck in it dies after medical treatment at Bronx Zoo
- Alligator found in the icy waters of Prospect Park Lake in February has died despite extensive medical treatment
- As part of an autopsy, the zoo revealed that the alligator, a female, had a chronic ulcer caused after swallowing a bath stopper
- Zoo officials blamed the gator’s previous owner for dumping her in a cold lake in “an extremely weakened state” and warned against keeping wild animals as pets
It was an abandoned and emaciated alligator found in a lake in New York City and sent to the Bronx Zoo for recovery, died in a “tragic case of animal cruelty,” zoo officials said.
The zoo provided extensive medical treatment and nutritional support for the weakened alligator, but she succumbed to her injuries on Sunday, the zoo said in a statement.
“This gator suffered and died because the owner decided to dump her in an icy lake, in an extremely weakened state, instead of giving her the veterinary care that could have saved her,” Bronx Zoo officials said. “Wild animals are not pets.”
An autopsy showed chronic and severe weight loss, extreme anemia and infections in the alligator’s guts and skin, the statement said.
An alligator rescued from a lake in Brooklyn’s Prospect Park, under care at the Bronx Zoo, has died in a “tragic case of animal cruelty,” zoo officials said
Zoo officials blamed the reptile’s death on the alligator’s previous owner, who dumped her in a “extremely weakened state” in a cold lake and warned against keeping wild animals as pets
An X-ray shows a bath stopper in the stomach of an American alligator rescued from a lake in Brooklyn’s Prospect Park earlier this year
The alligator, nicknamed Godzilla, was estimated to be 5 to 6 years old. She also had a chronic ulcer caused by a rubber bath stopper she ingested while illegally kept as a pet.
That rubber stopper was later successfully removed.
When the gator was rescued from Brooklyn’s Prospect Park Lake in late February and taken to the Bronx Zoo for recovery, she weighed just 15 pounds.
An alligator her height should have weighed 30 to 35 pounds, officials said.
The emaciated alligator was easy to catch at the time due to its weakened state and short stature
The large animal was captured in mid-February after being spotted in the water
Meghan Lalor, a Parks Department representative, said the Prospect Park alligator was likely a pet that became unwanted or outgrew its space and was then released into public waters.
Keeping an alligator as a pet in New York City is illegal, as is releasing animals into city parks.
Alligators are clearly not native to the area, and experts warn that it’s always a bad idea to release non-native animals into the environment as they can harm other species.
Alligators are native to tropical, warmer climates, which is part of the reason why this alligator had such a hard time navigating Brooklyn’s frigid waters.
The female alligator was sickly and underweight. Although attempts were made to nurse her back to health, she did not survive
Godzilla was cared for at the Bronx Zoo, where workers said x-rays revealed she at one point ate a four-inch bathtub