--- title: Alligator Discovered in New York City description: The cops that found it brought it to animal control, leaving the city's rat population with one fewer predator to fear. canonical: https://time.com/3971548/alligator-new-york-city/ author: Eric Dodds article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-07-24T18:29:14.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:48:18.672Z og:title: Alligator Found Roaming the Streets of New York City og:description: It was taken to animal control following its brief tour og:url: https://time.com/3971548/alligator-new-york-city/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Alligator Found Roaming the Streets of New York City twitter:description: It was taken to animal control following its brief tour twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Alligator Found Roaming the Streets of New York City ## Video: Overstepping Boundaries: The Danger of Invasive Species [Watch (HLS stream): Overstepping Boundaries: The Danger of Invasive Species](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/zHyAT7e9.m3u8) (2:18)  _Published 2013-12-04. What are invasive species, and why are they dangerous? TIME's Bryan Walsh explains how animals like the Asian carp, lionfish, and Burmese python can be a threat._ by [Eric Dodds](https://time.com/author/eric-dodds/) ## Eric Dodds Jul 24, 2015 6:29 PM UTC by [Eric Dodds](https://time.com/author/eric-dodds/) ## Eric Dodds Jul 24, 2015 6:29 PM UTC New York City streets are no stranger no unwelcome and unexpected visitors, but they received a rather unusual one on Thursday when an undersized alligator was [discovered](http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/25/nyregion/an-alligator-tours-new-york-city-joining-some-famous-fauna.html?smid=tw-nytmetro&%5Fr=0) roaming around Manhattan. It’s unknown where the creature came from, but the police that found the alligator brought it to animal control, the New York _Times_ reported. The picture distributed by the NYPD’s 34th precinct made it clear that humans would likely have little to fear from the alligator, given its size: > [](https://twitter.com/NYPD34Pct/status/624336009933791233) Alligator Discovered in New York City ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3971548/alligator-new-york-city/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3971548/alligator-new-york-city/"},"headline":"Alligator Found Roaming the Streets of New York City","datePublished":"2015-07-24T18:29:14.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:48:18.672Z","description":"It was taken to animal control","url":"https://time.com/3971548/alligator-new-york-city/","keywords":["Newsfeed","animals"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Eric Dodds","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/eric-dodds/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3971548/alligator-new-york-city/","name":"Alligator Found Roaming the Streets of New York City"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Overstepping Boundaries: The Danger of Invasive Species","description":"What are invasive species, and why are they dangerous? TIME's Bryan Walsh explains how animals like the Asian carp, lionfish, and Burmese python can be a threat.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/zHyAT7e9/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2013-12-04T20:50:46.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/zHyAT7e9.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/3971548/alligator-new-york-city/","duration":"PT2M18S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/3971548/alligator-new-york-city/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```