Alligator sighting in Ossining

[x242Steve 1]

Alligator sighting in Ossining draws DEC

By SHAWN COHEN

THE JOURNAL NEWS

(Original Publication: July 24, 2007)

OSSINING - An alligator in Ossining?

Wildlife experts from the state Department of Environmental Conservation were headed to the scene, expected to arrive about 3 p.m.

That's after a Consolidated Edison worker called police about 11 a.m. today after reportedly seeing the head of a 3-foot gator poking out of a private pond off Somerstown Road.

"He was sitting beside a tree and he ran into the water," said Aaron McDuffie, a flagger. "They (other workers) didn't want to believe me at first, this being Westchester, but they walked over and saw him in the water."

He said even he's in disbelief.

"With the cold climate, to see an alligator in the water? I didn't want to believe it when I first saw it."

Ossining police are at the site, searching for the reptile, but so far haven't seen anything, Officer William Thomas said shortly after noon. This may be a case of mistaken identity, but no one knows for sure at this time.

Jim Horton of Qualitypro Test and Wildlife Services in Hawthorne was in a rowboat, searching for the alligator, poking the bottom of the algae-covered pond with a pole. He said he thinks its a Cayman alligator.

"They were legal to buy a few years ago," he said. "They grow too big and people let them go."

He said he's not scared that the reptile will bite if he finds it.

"He's more afraid of us than we are of him," he said. "That's why he took off and he's hiding on us."

Mario Velardo, standing on the shore of the pond, threw a giant hook attached to a rope into the water, using raw chicken as bait.

"I have some chicken. I don't know, if the alligator is hungry, hopefully he'll eat it," said Velardo, with the Ossining Town Parks Department.

Check LoHud for updates.

[calhobs 110]

They showed this on Fox Newa last night, looked like a gator to me.

[JJB531 652]

They showed this on Fox Newa last night, looked like a gator to me.

That was the gator that was in Central Park... so far, no photos of the one in Ossining.... more than likely someone's pet... you can order them off the internet or purchase them at a reptile show in Pennsylvania where they are legal.

[Guest seanc]

those darn nyc sewage alligators are migrating to the ponds of ossining