In New York an alligator appears in the pond

The urban legends of New York narrate that the city sewers were once infested by large alligators, even by the “white crocodile”, also mentioned by Elio e le Storie Tese in a song. Stories handed down by word of mouth, sometimes amplified over time and others enriched by more concrete elements so as to end up in the newspapers, from the alligator sighted in 1935 as it poked out of a manhole until 1997 when a large reptile was actually found in Queens or, year 2001, a half-meter caiman in Central Park.

Now – for fans of the genre – a new episode: an almost one and a half meter alligator was recovered last Sunday in the famous Prospect Park Lake in Brooklyn.

How it ended up in the lake of the well-known New York park remains a mystery but the authorities believe that it is an unwanted pet, abandoned inside the basin. The reptile, nicknamed Godzilla, was found in poor health: cold and debilitated, he was immediately taken to the Bronx zoo to be treated.

Authorities took advantage of the unusual find to remind them that it is against the law to release animals in New York City parks. On average, park operators in the Big Apple respond each year to about 500 reports of sightings of unusual animals.

“Parks are not suitable homes for non-native animals, domesticated or otherwise. In addition to the potential danger to park-goers this may have caused, the release of non-indigenous animals or unwanted pets may lead to the elimination of native species and to unhealthy water quality,” they recall from Prospect Park Lake.

Shocked, park-goers told the New York Post of their disbelief. “But how, an alligator? Terrifying that it was in this area of ​​the park frequented by children,” said Vijay Jacob, for example, a citizen walking with his children.

In past cases some of the large reptiles found in New York were native to the south-eastern States, they came mainly from states such as Florida and Louisiana, warmer and with ideal habitats for their survival unlike the cold Manhattan.

However, the new curious find contributes to fueling the now endless stories about New York crocodiles which over time have become so “viral” that for several years the Department of Environmental Protection chose an alligator wearing glasses as its mascot sun depicted as it came out of a manhole. T-shirts were even printed with that logo and an inscription that is decidedly current today: “The legend continues…”.