MONROE COUNTY, Pa. — A small alligator is recovering in the Poconos after it was found on the property of a wastewater treatment plant. The wildlife center taking care of it urges people to think before purchasing an exotic pet.
Nearly every day, the Wilderz at Pocono Wildlife near Stroudsburg takes in injured or orphaned wildlife, but it's not every day they get an alligator.
In the 40 years the center has been around, this is only the second time it's taken one in.
"The exterior, he's in pretty decent shape. His eyes are still a little bit irritated. Still cleaning out his mouth, but he's recovering well," Janine Tancredi said.
This foot-long American alligator was found Friday at the Lehigh County Authority's wastewater treatment plant in Allentown.
"What they found was a huge boulder of this horrible grease and fat and diapers and rags and everything that accumulates in this very special corkscrew unit and pulls that stuff out of the water, and this boulder of it came up and saw a tail sticking out of it," said Barbara Miller, a wildlife expert who helped with the rescue and transporting the alligator to the wildlife center.
While Miller says we'll never find out exactly how the creature got into the system, she says it's more common than you may think.
"Every year, crocodiles and alligators show up in the canals—if they live so long—or the Lehigh River, or they're crawling through the storm drain system."
It's not illegal to have a pet alligator in Pennsylvania, but wildlife experts say it's not the best idea.
"If you don't know what you're getting into, don't buy them. Don't adopt them. They're a lifetime commitment. My personal opinion is how he got there; he was probably flushed. Somebody realized what they were getting into or couldn't take them where they were going or didn't want somebody to find out that they had them and flushed him," Tancredi said. "It's a huge responsibility."
Once the alligator is healed, it will have a new home at Clyde Peeling's Reptiland near Allenwood.
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