Crocodile Found ‘Abandoned’ on a Long Island Walking Path Sparks an Investigation — and a $1,000 Reward

The animal, which was seemingly abandoned at Holtsville Ecology Center in Long Island, has been identified as a Morelet’s crocodile

NEED TO KNOW

• A 2-foot-long crocodile was found abandoned along a walking trail at an ecology center in Holtsville, N.Y. on Sept. 17
• The reptile, a Morelet’s crocodile, is now in the care of authorities as investigations continue into who unlawfully released it
• A nonprofit is offering a $1,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of those responsible

A crocodile was found wandering along a walking trail in Long Island on Thursday, Sept. 17.

Town employees in Holtsville, N.Y. found the crocodile on the trail at the Holtsville Wildlife & Ecology Center, which was closed for the season, prompting staffers who cared for the property to reach out to a local animal rescue organization.

Strong Island Animal Rescue League (SIARL), which answers “local calls regarding injured, abused and neglected animals,” per its website, was called to the scene to help capture the rogue reptile. The nonprofit is now offering a reward to anyone with information about how the reptile got there.

Police officers with the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) were also alerted to the “small reptile apparently abandoned and found on the facility’s exercise path,” a DEC spokesperson told PEOPLE in a statement. The DEC said the animal, which was originally falsely reported as an alligator, was later identified as a Morelet’s crocodile.

Along with the DEC officers, SIARL President Frank Floridia responded to the Holtsville site, though according to the nonprofit’s Facebook, the animal had already been contained by the time he arrived.

“We quickly got there thinking we were going to have to wrestle an alligator but he was a little guy and already contained,” the organization wrote on Facebook alongside a video of the scaly critter sitting in a cardboard box. In the same post, SIARL also praised the staffers who “were able to keep eyes on him and get him contained till help got there.”

DEC officers took possession of the reptile, which is “currently in the possession of the Nassau County SPCA awaiting final transfer to a properly permitted facility,” the agency told PEOPLE on Monday, Sept. 21. But not before the SIARL president picked him up for a quick selfie.

A follow-up post about the “dumped” crocodile revealed that Floridia was even able to pick up the animal — who “wasn’t aggressive,” Floridia said in an interview. “I grabbed him mid-back, so his tail couldn’t get me and his face couldn’t get me,” he told the outlet.

But that does not mean the reptile was not dangerous, or that someone could have gotten hurt by the wandering animal, Floridia said.

“Let me tell you, if he bit somebody, you’re gonna feel it,” the nonprofit president explained. “It can tear your ligaments. It can seriously hurt somebody.”

The reptile could have been seriously harmed as well, with Floridia telling the outlet the situation is “concerning for the animal because it doesn’t have the proper habitat, the proper environment to live.”

The day after it was contained, SIARL announced on Facebook that it “searched the area when the crocodile was found but did not see any signs of a tank or another reptile.” The organization also said it is “offering a $1,000 reward to anyone who can give information leading to the arrest and conviction of who is responsible for dumping this crocodile.”

The DEC is investigating, with a spokesperson for the agency telling PEOPLE: “An investigation is currently underway to locate the person or persons that unlawfully released the animal.”

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Another local organization, the Suffolk County Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA), is also investigating the incident, according to Patch. 

“Obviously, it’s not indigenous to these waters here,” Suffolk County SPCA Chief Roy Gross told the outlet. Morelet’s crocodiles, per Encyclopedia Britannica, are native to Belize, northern Guatemala and some areas of Mexico. “So, we’re looking at it as abandonment, and we are investigating it,” Gross said of the incident.

In a statement shared with PEOPLE, a DEC spokesperson issued a reminder that in the state of New York, it’s “unlawful to import, possess, or sell any alligator, caiman, or crocodile, parts thereof, and products made from those animals without the proper DEC permits.”

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