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Alligator found in NYC park has died in ‘tragic case of animal abuse’

Fun VLOG April 25, 2023
In this handout photo provided by NYC Parks on February 20, 2023, an approximately 4 foot long alligator is tended to by Parks Enforcement Patrol and Urban Park Rangers, at Prospect Park in the Brooklyn borough of New York City on February 19, 2023. - Alligators inhabit Florida and the humid southeast of the United States: much further north, in New York, one was found alive, but in a very poor condition, in a pond in a Brooklyn park, the city announced on February 20, 2023. The rare discovery of the animal, probably abandoned by its owner, was made Sunday morning in the lake of Prospect Park. (Photo by NYC Parks / AFP) / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE - MANDATORY CREDIT
Godzilla, the alligator found in Prospect Park earlier this year, died on Friday (Picture: NYC Parks/AFP via Getty Images)

The alligator that was found in a freezing New York City park in February has died, the Bronx Zoo said.

Zoo officials called the the fate of the alligator, who was originally nicknamed ‘Godzilla’ by her rescuers, a ‘tragic case of animal abuse.’

The gator was discovered in Brooklyn’s Prospect Park on February 19. She was found swimming in the Prospect Park Lake on a morning where temperatures averaged around 37 degrees Fahrenheit.

The reptile was quickly spotted and captured by park rangers, who noticed she was ‘lethargic and possibly cold shocked.’

In this handout photo provided by NYC Parks on February 20, 2023, an approximately 4 foot long alligator is tended to by Parks Enforcement Patrol and Urban Park Rangers, at Prospect Park in the Brooklyn borough of New York City on February 19, 2023. - Alligators inhabit Florida and the humid southeast of the United States: much further north, in New York, one was found alive, but in a very poor condition, in a pond in a Brooklyn park, the city announced on February 20, 2023. The rare discovery of the animal, probably abandoned by its owner, was made Sunday morning in the lake of Prospect Park. (Photo by NYC Parks / AFP) / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE - MANDATORY CREDIT
The 4-foot long gator was found in the Prospect Park Lake in Brooklyn (Picture: NYC Parks/AFP via Getty Images)

The rangers said they believed the gator, who was a 4-foot long juvenile female, was somebody’s exotic pet that was abandoned in the park. Based on her size, veterinarians estimated she was about 5-6 years old.

‘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,’ the NYC Parks Department said in February.

Godzilla was eventually taken to the Bronx Zoo for treatment and rehabilitation. Once there, veterinarians discovered she had swallowed and ingested a bathtub stopper.

This photo provided Friday, April 21, 2023, by the Bronx Zoo, shows an American alligator rescued from a lake in Prospect Park in Brooklyn under care at the Bronx Zoo, in New York. The abandoned and emaciated alligator has died in a
Godzilla was taken to the Bronx Zoo for care and veterinary treatment (Picture: AP)
This photo provided Friday, April 21, 2023, by the Bronx Zoo, a radiograph shows a bathtub stopper in the stomach of an American alligator, rescued from a lake in Prospect Park in the Brooklyn borough of New York. The abandoned and emaciated alligator has died in a
A radiograph shows a bathtub stopper in the stomach of Godzilla (Picture: AP)

Veterinarians at the zoo were able to successfully remove the stopper, but her condition improved little over the course of the next two months.

After her death on Friday, a necropsy revealed she suffered from ‘chronic and severe weight loss, extreme anemia, and infections in her intestine and skin,’ as well as a ‘chronic ulcer of her stomach caused by the rubber stopper.’

The Bronx Zoo said that Godzilla should never have been kept as a pet in someone’s home, and discourages others from doing so.

‘This alligator suffered and died because its owner decided to dump her in a frigid lake, in an extremely debilitated state rather than provide her with the veterinary care that could have saved her,’ the Zoo said. ‘Wild animals are not pets.’

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