A 3-foot exotic reptile was found in a Philadelphia park

By Sara Smart, CNN

A Philadelphia park visitor made a rare discovery when they came across at 3-foot exotic reptile that is usually only seen wandering through the wetlands of central and South America.

Police responded to FDR Park Sunday and were able to capture the creature, which was determined to be a caiman, and called in animal control officials for assistance.

Animal Care and Control Team (ACCT) Philly advised police to tie the mouth of the reptile, so they wrapped caution tape around its snout.

Caimans are in the same family as alligators and crocodiles, according to the Amazon Aid Foundation. They can get up to 5 feet in length but the one retrieved from the park measured about 3.5 feet.

The caiman, believed to be about 3 years old, appeared to be in good condition and wasn’t starving, which is an indication that it was recently living in a home, ACCT Philly’s Sarah Barnett told CNN.

“We don’t know exactly how he ended up in the park, but it’s most likely that someone let him go overnight,” Barnett said.

The ACCT Philly team brought the reptile, which they named “Cay man,” to their facility where it stayed overnight. The team then contacted the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission, which picked up the reptile Monday and took it to a rehab facility for further care, Barnett said.

ACCT Philly posted photos of the caiman on its Facebook page and encouraged people to not release their exotic animals into the wild.

“If you have an animal you can no longer keep, including caimans or any other animal that is extremely difficult to humanely house, please reach out to us instead of just letting them go,” the post said.

The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2023 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.