An alligator has died about two months after being found abandoned in a New York City park with significant health issues, the Bronx Zoo announced Friday.
A necropsy revealed that the female alligator, which died April 16, was severely underweight, suffering from extreme anemia, infections in her intestine and skin, and a chronic stomach ulcer, the zoo said in a statement.
Veterinarians also removed a bathtub stopper which she had ingested while being “illegally kept as a pet,” the zoo wrote.
The alligator had been receiving treatment at the zoo since being found near Brooklyn’s Prospect Park Lake on Feb. 19.
She “was so emaciated, debilitated, and anemic, her immune system was not as strong as it needed to be and she succumbed to those infections,” the zoo said.
New York City Department of Parks and Recreation
The zoo called the situation a case of animal abuse, and there was no word on whether the owner has been identified. The alligator was spotted by park maintenance staff near the lake, which was 37 degrees at the time, the zoo said.
“This alligator suffered and died because its owner decided to dump her in a frigid lake, in an extremely debilitated state rather than provide her with the veterinary care that could have saved her,” the zoo said. “Wild animals are not pets.”
— Caitlin O’Kane contributed to this report.
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