Alligator found in Ocean County lake
Image courtesy of the Jackson Township Police Department.
Authorities found and removed a young American alligator yesterday afternoon from a Jackson Township lake, police said.
Police responded to the Maple Lake Campground shortly after 4 p.m. on a report of an alligator in the lake, spokesman Capt. Steven Laskiewicz said in a release.
A township animal control officer caught the approximately two-foot long alligator without incident, Laskiewicz said, adding that the crocodilian reptile native to the southeast could potentially grow to between eight and 11 feet long.
“It is suspected that an area resident had the animal as a pet and as it grew, released it into the lake,” the spokesman said. “The alligator was transferred by Animal Control to the care of a licensed exotic reptile handler while contact is made to Fish and Game to determine what will be done with it.”
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