Middlesex Boro Proposes Improvements To Victor Crowell Park

MIDDLESEX BORO, NJ — The same Middlesex borough park that had an alligator roaming it in the summer of 2023 will be getting some major upgrades this year. The park is Victor Crowell Park, and Middlesex borough plans to install the following:

• New walking trails
• Updated playground equipment
• New picnic areas
• Enhanced landscaping

See park plans here from the town: https://www.middlesexboro-nj.g...

The town of Middlesex will make these park improvements using Green Acres funding from the state, and will hold a public hearing on the plans at 7 p.m. January 28. The hearing will be part of the regularly scheduled Council meeting at the Middlesex municipal building, 1200 Mountain Ave. Written comments on park upgrades may be directed to Middlesex borough administrator Michael LaPlace, mlaplace@middlesexboro-nj.gov

Two years ago, someone is suspected to have dumped a four-foot-long alligator at Victor Crowell Park, or into a creek or stream nearby and the gator swam into the park. It was spotted multiple times in late August and September 2023 surfacing in the pond water of Lake Creighton (the Duck Pond) and Ambrose Brooke in the park; the alligator was spotted multiple times resting on an island in the middle of Lake Creighton. The alligator became a spectacle, as police closed the park to kids fishing, set traps for the alligator and a Middlesex borough police officer even fired a gun at the gator in an attempt to capture it (he missed; the reptile was not hit by the gunfire).

On Sept. 7, 2023, the alligator was captured by police in Piscataway after it was spotted walking through a residential neighborhood in the dark at night. It is now at a zoo in Tampa. See Video Of Alligator Being Captured By Piscataway Police

It was landscaper Mario Fincher, who owns On Time Landscaping, located in Middlesex borough, who is believed to have first seen the alligator in the middle of the day on Aug. 23, 2023, while he was working in a client's backyard on Melrose Avenue.

"When I first saw it, of course I couldn't believe my eyes," Fincher told Patch at the time. "I provide maintenance to this property almost every week, along with their neighbors. There is a small body of water that runs along the backyards of all the homes. Being a big fan of bass fishing, I always look in every body of water. But I've never seen fish in there until I saw the gator. Blew my mind."

"We saw each other at the same time and she swam close to me," he continued. "It was just watching me for a while so I got back to work."

He took this video of the gator:

Police Shoot At Alligator Found In Middlesex Boro Pond (Aug. 28, 2023)

List of alligators found in New Jersey in recent years

It's more common than you might think:

Jan. 2023 Neptune Township: A man said he found a three-foot-long alligator in a plastic tub in an empty lot in Neptune Twp. on a freezing cold January night. It later turned out the man who claimed he "found" the alligator actually dumped it there and called 911, because he had the gator as a pet and no longer wanted it when it grew too big. Man Who "Found" Jersey Shore Alligator Actually Abandoned It: SPCA

September 2018 Old Bridge: A man out walking his dog found a two-foot-long baby alligator by Duhernal Lake in Spotswood/Old Bridge. Police think the alligator had been dropped there after someone no longer wanted it as a pet. In that instance, the baby alligator was captured by Old Bridge Police, see photos of it: Man Walking Dog Finds Alligator In Middlesex County

May 2017 Secaucus: A town DPW worker found a caiman in the Secaucus duck pond, which is very popular as a children's fishing pond. The Secaucus caiman was never found and Secaucus Mayor Mike Gonnelli said he doubted it survived New Jersey's winter. Alligator Seen in New Jersey Duck Pond

2015 Elmwood Park: As Patch reported at the time, someone dumped an unwanted alligator in the Passaic River. That alligator was much bigger than all the others, anywhere from four to seven feet long, and it was spotted by a man fishing for carp, Elmwood Park Police Chief Michael Foligno said at the time. That alligator was captured in Elmwood Park.