Sheriff: Alligator found outside reptile shop appeared to have been intentionally abandoned

WBAL-TV11 ^ | October 24, 2025 | Greg Ng

[Red Badger]

VIDEO AT LINK....................

FOREST HILL, Md. — Someone appears to have abandoned an alligator Thursday night at a reptile shop in Harford County.

The Harford County Sheriff's Office said deputies were called to the parking lot of a reptile shop in Forest Hill, where an alligator appeared to have been intentionally abandoned with its mouth taped shut.

Deputies found the alligator, secured it and called a reptile rescue for assistance.

"With last night's temperature dropping to near freezing, without the timely intervention from our deputies and the shop owner, it's unlikely that the alligator would have survived," the sheriff's office said in a statement.

Authorities said the alligator was in good health, friendly and docile, indicating that it had most likely been someone's pet. The alligator was taken to Plumpton Park Zoo in Rising Sun, the sheriff's office said.

Authorities cited state law as prohibiting Marylanders from owning alligators, as well as Harford County code that prohibits abandoning any animal.

Anyone with information is asked to call deputies at 410-692-7880 as an investigation continues.

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TOPICS: Outdoors; Pets/Animals; Society; Weird Stuff
KEYWORDS: alligator; baltimore; gator

[Red Badger]

Maryland Gator?..................

[Steely Tom]

"Some circumstantial evidence is very strong, as when you find a trout in the milk."

— Henry David Thoreau

[Red Badger]

Whoever dumped that gator should be charged with animal cruelty. The temperature might have killed it before anyone found it..............

[ransomnote]

Great, the Dems will set it up in a hotel, register it to vote, give it a drivers license and offer to drive it to the polls on election day.......they’ve done it before.

[Red Badger]

Some woman in California registered her dog to vote..................

[Red Badger]

https://ktla.com/news/california/southern-california-woman-accused-of-registering-dog-to-vote-casting-2-ballots/

[Red Badger]

https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/4338908/posts

[sauropod]

ping

[lee martell]

That’s no way to treat a domesticated Gator.
It’s not his fault that he got too big for the Jacuzzi.

[Waverunner]

In Florida, Gators are so numerous that they fall into the nuisance category. Nowadays, with a limited hunting season, they don’t appear to need the population support measures given to them in the 70’s. And remember, that gator is an ambush predator that outlived the dinosaurs.

[Red Badger]

Whoever had this alligator had it illegally, obtained it illegally and dumped it illegally....................

[dfwgator]

Gators are so numerous that they fall into the nuisance category

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Hopefully now that Napier has been fired, they won’t be such a nuisance. ;)

[dfwgator]

The second abandoned Gator this month after Billy Napier.

[Red Badger]

LOL!....He wasn’t abandoned, he was tossed out!..............

[Waverunner]

It’s probably a good thing that Steve Spurrier is 80, otherwise he would be the new head coach.

[alexander_busek]

Send it to Illegal Alien Island!

Regards,

[where's_the_Outrage?]

The taped mouth would definitely kill it over time more than the temperature, which they have a metabolism to survive.

Yes, alligators can survive freezing by entering a state of brumation, where they slow their heart rate and metabolism and keep their snouts above the ice to breathe. This allows them to survive for extended periods with their bodies submerged in frozen water, though younger alligators are more vulnerable if the ice becomes too thick for them to maintain their snout's air pocket.

[dennisw]

ping

[cyclotic]

Proving once again that laws are meaningless to lawless people.