The alligator caught in the middle of New York City streets on Thursday, July 23, dies shortly after it was rescued. According to a spokesperson from the New York City Animal Care and Control (ACC), the staff removed the duct tapes applied to the alligator's snout upon arrival to their unit and placed the reptile in an aquarium with a shallow 20-gallon water and heat source. Nonetheless, CockadoodleQ, as the ACC staff has named it, succumb to death.

"We took him in as we would any other animal, examined him for any other injuries, and we set him up in a reasonable enclosure with some shallow water, and a rock for him to hang out on," says Dr. Colin Dwyer, senior manager of Veterinary Services for NYC Care and Control.

As alligators are not commonly taken as pets, the most that their team could do is to provide care by giving it a comfortable place to stay until it could be picked up. The alligator was also provided with a rock inside the aquarium so it could have a climbing medium out of the water.

CockadoodleQ was first discovered crossing Ninth Ave. at W. 205th Street in Inwood. It did not exhibit any look of fear or apprehension as it braved the busy streets of the city. According to Deputy Inspector Chris Morello, the alligator was "pretty feisty." Authorities first theorized that the alligator was dropped off by someone and that it was then looking for water at Harlem Bay.

The police from Manhattan's 34th Precinct stood by the alligator until the ACC staff arrived. The commanding officer of the precinct also took the event to Twitter, where he posted a tweet with the hashtag "whatsnext."

The alligator looks like an American alligator, says Sean Casey, an animal rescuer based in Brooklyn. He estimates that the alligator is about 1-2 years old if kept well. When alligators are still babies, many people are fascinated by it, but when it grows into its natural huge size, they are often dumped.

Alligators are wild animals. They are not meant to be pets and their species (reptiles) are the masters of masquerading, says Casey. Reptiles can very well mask any injury or illness because it is their nature to never show any forms of weakness as it is a sign of being a prey for some other species.

Photo: Simon Goldin | Flickr