It’s no croc: Alligator awaits new home after rescue from the streets of Boston

So I was really surprised to hear that there was an alligator in the Charles River in Boston of all places

A young alligator seen along the Charles River in Boston this week is now safe

after being rescued by a local wildlife educator. Joe Kenny, the local expert who caught the gator

says he found it Wednesday night in an area where sightings of the critter had been reported

He went out to search for it as he feared New England temperatures would mean certain death for the cold-blooded reptile

which typically require warm climates, preferably temperatures of more than 80 degrees

This here is a one-year-old alligator. I rescued it last night from the Charles River in Boston

Recently, the temperatures have been dropping into the 30s, and that's really cold for an alligator

The reptile became an instant social media sensation as locals could not believe their eyes when they saw it slithering away

But Kenny thought his initial search would come up empty-handed, as the critter is only a little more than a foot long

So the first thing that went through my mind was that there's no way I'm going to find it

It's a tiny little alligator in the Charles River. It's a big river. I went out there, it took me all of 10 minutes, maybe 15, walking along the edge of the area that it was last seen in

And it stuck out pretty good along the muddy bottom of the river. So it was pretty easy

I was a little shocked, though, to be honest, that I actually found it

Wildlife officials are allowing Kenny to keep the critter until they find a more suitable home for Charles

An investigation is now underway to see how the gator got loose in Boston

But they suspect it was likely an exotic pet that somebody either unintentionally let loose or purposely released

This is not the first time an alligator has shown up in Boston. Another one was spotted in the Charles River in 2010

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