No Joke: An Alligator Was Found in This Massachusetts River

Are we in Florida or New England?

Imagine you are just out for your daily walk and you look down into the river and something catches your eye that doesn’t seem right.  You blink once or twice and realize it’s an alligator.

But you aren’t in some Floridan swamp. This is New England! They aren’t supposed to be here.

That’s just what happened to Joseph Matteson of West Springfield, Massachusetts. According to upi.com, he was just out for a walk and he spotted an alligator in the Connecticut River in Massachusetts.

You have to see it to believe it

Matteson tells upi.com that he has spotted the little fella a few times and his friends didn’t believe him.  He said “it was about 4 feet.”

As is usually the case when this happens, it’s probably someone’s pet that got too large to care for anymore.

I mean where do you keep a 4-foot alligator?  It’s also against the law to keep them, according to the article.

What Will Happen to the Alligator?

Well, if you are walking a small dog near the Connecticut River make sure you keep them on a tight leash cause this gator is probably hungry.  Hopefully, someone can wrangle him or her, and take it to a zoo, or wildlife rescue, and put the little critter somewhere south.

The alligator may do just fine in the Connecticut River during the summer and early fall, but once those freezing temperatures come in, he/she is not going to make it.

So, my plan to stick to the rivers and lakes to avoid the sharks in the ocean may have a flaw.  I hope I don’t get bit by an alligator

Speaking of rare