The alligator discovered in a New York City park reportedly has a bathtub stopper stuck in her body, and her caretakers have been unable to remove it because of her poor state of health.
The 4ft-long female reptile, rescued from a lake in Brooklyn’s Prospect Park on 19 February, was named “Godzilla” because of her size. However, her health was in a dire state when she was recovered, and she was “extremely emaciated”, the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) said in a statement on Wednesday.
Godzilla weighed about 15lbs when found, a little less than half the weight of an alligator this size. According to the image of a radiograph from the Bronx Zoo, where Godzilla is receiving treatment, there is an object stuck in the right part of her stomach: a 4-inch wide bathtub stopper, WCS said in its statement.
The stopper cannot be removed because of the alligator’s “weakened” status, presenting a hurdle for the animal’s recovery.
Godzilla is unable to eat by herself and is being fed through a tube, with nutrients, vitamins as well as antibiotics and anti-fungal medicine.
Animal groups believe the alligator – whose species is not suited for the cold in New York – was likely a pet whose owner eventually abandoned it. That type of abandonment is not an uncommon occurrence in New York City after unusual pets outgrow “their cute phase”, according to the New York Times.
In the past five years, six alligators have been rescued in the city, according to the Animal Care Centers. Not all of those were rescued from parks.
Some, for instance, were seized during drug busts or while law enforcement officers served a search warrant.
“The tragedy of this situation is a reminder that wild animals do not make good pets and that responsible pet ownership means making choices that will not negatively impact an individual animal or the environment,” the WCS’s statement said, in part.
