That Bites: The Prospect Park Alligator Is Dead

PROSPECT PARK, BROOKLYN — See you later, Prospect Park alligator.

A female alligator pulled from a frigid lake in the park died nearly two months after her rescue snapped up the sympathies of New York City and beyond, Bronx Zoo officials announced.

The reptile christened "Godzilla" was simply too emaciated, debilitated and anemic — as well as suffering from a weakened immune system — to survive its ordeal, despite intensive and extensive care, the zoo's announcement states.

"This was a tragic case of animal abuse," a zoo statement states.

The scaly saga began Feb. 19 when parkgoers spotted the alligator in the lake, not "moving really at all," in one official's words.

Parks enforcement patrol and urban park rangers dragged the sluggish saurian from the water. They then sent the alligator to the Bronx Zoo, where veterinarians scrambled to nurse it back to health.

In the meantime, New Yorkers and others rumbled about how an urban legend appeared to roar into life. Patch's headline captured the mood: "Alligators In NYC Sewers ... How About Park Slope's Prospect Park?"

The unfortunate truth is that the city's parks have been dumping grounds for pets.

Prospect Park alone has seen pit bulls, guinea pigs, ducks from school projects and big ole bags of eels unceremoniously left behind on its grounds and in its waters.

"Godzilla" was only the latest.

A few days after the alligator's rescue, zoo officials gave an update that painted a sad portrait of suffering.

The gator — beyond being "extremely emaciated," lethargic and suffering from exposure to cold temperatures — had at some point eaten a 4-inch wide bathtub stopper, they said, providing a radiograph of the stopper in the reptile's guts.

Veterinarians had to wait until the weakened alligator gathered strength before they could embark on surgery to extract it, officials said.

They eventually successfully removed the stopper, but the surgery and ongoing medical treatment and nutritional support weren't enough, a zoo statement from last week states.

The alligator died April 16.

"A necropsy revealed chronic and severe weight loss, extreme anemia, and infections in her intestine and skin," a zoo statement read. "She also had a chronic ulcer of her stomach caused by the rubber stopper."

After the alligator's death, zoo officials couldn't help but bare their teeth. Wild animals do not belong in the pet trade or in people's home, they 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's statement read. "Wild animals are not pets."

Related coverage:

• Alligators In NYC Sewers ... How About Park Slope's Prospect Park?
• 'Emaciated' Prospect Park Alligator Had Eaten Bathtub Stopper: Zoo
• Alligator, Eels, Ducks: An Abandoned Prospect Park Pet Retrospective