PAWTUCKET TIMES (Rhode Island) 27 May 05 Gator was home alone (Kevin P. O'Connor)
Pawtucket: The little alligator was lonely, cold and hungry by the time his friends arrived.
But he is headed to a far better place.
A landlord on Harrison Street called for help Wednesday after he went to clean a newly-vacant apartment and found a foot-long alligator left without food or water in a pen.
"Someone moved out and left the animal behind," said Animal Control Supervisor John Holmes. "Sometimes that happens."
Animal Control Officer Kevin Mooney picked up the alligator and brought it to the shelter. It is not the city's first rescued alligator.
Holmes found an alligator under a porch on Harrison Street a decade ago. Earlier this year, Central Falls Animal Control Officer Will Muggle took in a 4-foot alligator that was abandoned in the basement of a home on Roosevelt Avenue.
"We made some calls on this," Holmes said. "We were told to feed the alligator chicken, so we went out and got him a roast chicken."
The alligator is headed for Rain Forest Reptiles, a non-profit rescue group that also runs educational programs about snakes, lizards and alligators. Rain Forest Reptiles also took in the 4-foot alligator from Central Falls.
"This alligator will have a home," Holmes said. "He'll be happy."
Gator was home alone