Shivering Alligator Godzilla Rescued From Brooklyn’s Prospect Park Lake

Shocked maintenance workers in Brooklyn’s Prospect Park came across an unnerving non-native species: a four-foot-long alligator struggling in the lake on Sunday.

The displaced reptile was spotted floating on the water near Duck Island in the Park’s southeastern corner at around 8:30 a.m. The poor beast was moving slowly, apparently cold-shocked in the freezing water. Park enforcement officials and rangers rescued the critter and brought it to Animal Care Centers of NYC, but not before they named it Godzilla.

The city’s Department of Parks & Recreation said Godzilla was found “very lethargic and possibly cold shocked since it is native to warm, tropical climates.”

The department took the opportunity to educate and to wag a finger: “Parks are not suitable homes for animals not indigenous to those parks-domesticated or otherwise,” a spokesperson said in a statement. “In addition to the potential danger to park goers this could have caused, releasing non-indigenous animals or unwanted pets can lead to the elimination of native species and unhealthy water quality.”

Godzilla is now at the Bronx Zoo being evaluated. The gator had apparently been exiled by a thoughtless pet owner, probably within the past week since it would not have survived much longer than that in February temperatures this far north. The American alligator’s (Alligator mississippiensis) northernmost natural range is in the Carolinas.

Photo credit: New York City Animal Care Center