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According to the New York Department of Environmental Conservation, this time it was Dutchess County when on Tuesday, Sept. 14, around 1:20 p.m., East Fishkill Police reported a four-to-five-foot alligator roaming around the Van Wyck Junior High School, the department said.
A next-door neighbor, who just happened to look out her living room window, saw the 50-pound animal scurrying from a culvert and into the parking lot of the nearby school and immediately called 911.
When police arrived on the scene they found the gator between the parking lot on the side of the school and a ravine on the edge of the property which had about two feet of water from all of the recent rains.
East Fishkill called ECO, who sent ECO Officer Charles Eyler to the scene and he safely subdued the animal by throwing a towel over its eyes and taped its mouth shut with help from East Fishkill officers.
Once subdued, the gator was transported to an area animal rehabilitation specialist for evaluation.
The DEC said it receives a few calls each year about alligators.
The gators are often illegally owned and they escape or are let go by their owners when they get too big, the department said.
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