A woman out for a run along the Charles in Boston couldn’t believe her eyes on Tuesday morning — floating on the water was a little reptile.
“I looked a little bit closer and I was like, ‘Oh my gosh! That’s a baby alligator!” Whitney Lieberman told NBC10 Boston.
She took some video of the animal encounter, just a crawl away from the Hatch Memorial Shell along the Esplanade.
“I was so caught off guard that I didn’t think to grab anyone else and say is anyone else seeing what I’m seeing here,” Lieberman said.
Animal educator Joseph Kenney, of Joe’s Crazzy Critters, said the video does show an American alligator, and said it’s not dangerous, though the cold weather in Boston is dangerous to the animal.
And after he spoke to us, Kenney went out to find the gator.
“Actually in that same area — you guys had sent me the location after we spoke — he was tucked into some reeds, kind of along the edge there, in about a foot-and-a-half of water,” Kenney said. “He was just tucked in and laying on the bottom.”
In his social media post, Kenney explained that it took him just 15 minutes to locate the animal.
“With some luck and a couple of bright flashlights after 15 minutes I found the Boston alligator. I was able to capture him safely and he will be warm and housed until we get more information and instructions on what’s next for this little guy,” he wrote.
MassWildlife told Boston.com that they’d seen videos of the alligator and were working with other agencies to catch it before the cold does.
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