A two-foot crocodile was found in a Long Island nature preserve this week — and the nonprofit that saved it is offering a $1,000 reward for the arrest and capture of the person who illegally dumped the dangerous reptile.
The croc was spotted on Thursday strolling along a walking trail at the Holtsville Wildlife & Ecology Center, which shut down earlier this year.
Town employees still working on the property who made the shocking discovery directed the animal into a box and immediately called the nonprofit Strong Island Animal Rescue League.
Frank Floridia, president of the Port Jefferson-based nonprofit, called the discovery of the crocodile — which is illegal in New York — “very concerning.”
“Let me tell you, if he bit somebody, you’re gonna feel it. It can tear your ligaments. It can seriously hurt somebody,” he told The Post.
“And it’s concerning for the animal because it doesn’t have the proper habitat, the proper environment to live.”
When he arrived at the scene, Floridia was able to carefully pick up the creature without getting bitten.
“I grabbed him mid-back, so his tail couldn’t get me and his face couldn’t get me. I was able to hold him. He wasn’t aggressive,” he said.
The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation now has the crocodile, which has to be removed from the state, he explained.
The Suffolk County Society of Prevention of Cruelty to Animals is trying to determine where it originated from and who left it there.
“Obviously, it’s not indigenous to these waters here,” Suffolk County SPCA Chief Roy Gross told Patch.
“So, we’re looking at it as abandonment, and we are investigating it.”
Floridia said the crocodile rescue wasn’t that out of the ordinary — as he’s been busy with multiple unusual animal discoveries.
“I’ve been getting calls about animals being dumped all over the island,” he said.
“The night before, I got a snake out of Farmingdale, a ball python, four-feet long. Before that, there was a tarantula left behind in someone’s apartment in Port Jefferson Station. I had a monitor lizard that I had to get. You name it.”
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