Chicago Police Confirm Alligator in Lagoon
Created: July 11, 2019 10:58 AM
Chicago police investigators have cracked the case: A 4 to 5 foot alligator is living in a lagoon at one of the city's most popular parks.
Chicago police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi says that investigators went to Humboldt Park Lagoon on the city's West Side and confirmed that the unusual resident is there as reported on social media.
Officials couldn't say how the creature got there.
Police confirmed that this is an alligator living in a Chicago lagoon.
WFLD-TV via AP Video
City officials say alligator traps are being placed around the lagoon in hopes the animal will swim into one and be safely removed.
Guglielmi says the animal was expected to be trapped "and relocated to a zoo for veterinary evaluation."
Alligators favor warm weather climates such as Florida but have been known to survive temporarily in the cold through a process similar to hibernation.
Rencie Horst-Ruiz saw the alligator at around 6:30 a.m. Tuesday while photographing a girl's quinceanera.
She says she wasn't too shocked since she's heard past reports of people putting piranhas in the water and even a young shark.