A Warm-Weather Reptile Invades Pennsylvania Waters

Some have been captured, while a few still remain on the loose

Photo byLisa YountonUnsplash

With its harsh winters and general lack of a tropical, reptile-friendly climate, Pennsylvania might be one of the last states you'd expect to encounter an alligator in.

But in less than two months, Kiskiminetas Township police have received reports of three different alligators — and two of them are still at large, The Wall Street Journal reported.

"It's getting to be too common of a thing," nearby resident Ken Kaminski told the Journal.

The inexplicable appearance of alligators this summer is, in part, because of the creatures escaping their owners. One of the missing gators — two feet in length — escaped into the Kiskiminetas River after a transfer from one owner to another went wrong, the Journal reported. While many states outlaw owning alligators as pets, Pennsylvania does not.

"I'm so over this gator thing," Amber Phillips, who owns an animal shelter that housed the first alligator after it was caught in early August, told the Journal.

The town council tried to pass an ordinance making it illegal to own crocodilians — an animal order that includes both crocodiles and alligators — but it was quickly shut down, receiving immediate negative reactions from residents, according to the Journal.

Time is ticking to find the loose gators as winter quickly approaches. The reptiles likely wouldn't survive for long as fall approaches and temperature dip.

"We just want them caught, and we're running out of time," resident Michael Petrouski told the Journal.