Owner abandoned alligator in plastic bin, NJ shelter says. Now it’s getting a new home

An abandoned alligator found in a plastic bin has found a new home, according to a New Jersey animal shelter.

The 3-foot-long, juvenile alligator found in an empty lot in Neptune was recently taken to Cape May Zoo, according to a Jan. 19 Facebook post from the Monmouth County SPCA.

MCSPCA Animal Control collected the gator Jan. 15 after someone reported finding it next to his home, the shelter said in a Jan. 16 Facebook post.

“The young alligator was brought back to the shelter and given a clean tank that allowed proper air circulation and is being kept in a climate-controlled area,” according to the shelter.

From some anonymous tips, two men were identified as the “main persons of interest,” the shelter said.

One of the men purchased the “gator at a reptile expo in Pennsylvania and was keeping him in a 150-gallon tank at his residence,” according to the MCSPCA Humane Law Enforcement, the shelter said.

As the man was facing eviction, a friend offered to take the reptile, the shelter said.

When the man’s “parents refused to allow him to keep the 3-foot-long reptile, they collectively staged the abandonment and called the Neptune Township Police Department posing as Good Samaritans,” the shelter said.

“We know now that at no point surrounding these circumstances was the alligator left in a dangerous or life-threatening situation,” the shelter said.

The man officials say purchased the alligator is facing charges from the “NJ Department of Fish and Wildlife for the violation of keeping a prohibited and dangerous exotic species,” the shelter said. The man officials say abandoned the alligator, as well as his parents, “are facing charges of falsifying a police report.”

“It is illegal for New Jersey residents to keep alligators or caimans, which are considered potentially dangerous exotic species,” MCSPCA’s executive director, Ross Licitra, said, according to the shelter. “Not only is it a danger to the public, but these animals, when kept in captivity, need very specific care that only professionals can provide.”

Neptune is about 50 miles south of Newark.

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