An unusual beachgoer was spotted on the shores of Lake Michigan in Wisconsin this week – a small reptile identified by the South Milwaukee Police Department as an alligator.
“This afternoon, we took a report of an alligator on the Lake Michigan Beach in Grant Park,” said a Monday Facebook post from the department. It said that the gator was handed over to the Milwaukee Area Domestic Animal Control Commission.
According to the United States Geological Survey, the typical range for alligators stretches from coastal North Carolina to southern Florida and the Keys, and west through the Deep South to central Texas and southeastern Oklahoma. However, they do pop up in other areas from time to time.
For example, the USGS lists multiple indigenous occurrences of alligator sightings in Illinois from 2005 to 2019. The latest was a pet alligator found in Chicago’s Humboldt Park Lagoon nicknamed “Chance the Snapper.”
This summer another reptile, lovingly named Chonkosaurus, went viral after being seen in the city. That giant snapping turtle is actually native to the area.
In 2018, the City of Waukegan said on Facebook that a four-foot alligator was found swimming in Lake Michigan. Its mouth was shut with rubber bands. Waukegan Police Animal Control and staff at Larsen Marine Service, Inc. (LMS) helped recuse the creature and it was transported to the Wildlife Discovery Center in Lake Forest.
There was some confusion about what the reptile was, according to CBS News.
“Authorities don’t know who dumped a four-foot-long reptile into Lake Michigan, but they now know what kind it is,” said the outlet. “After initially believing the animal spotted Monday swimming near Waukegan, Illinois, by a startled kayaker was a caiman, officials now say it is actually an alligator.”
MLive said that alligators are found in Michigan every year. There have also been many sightings in Indiana and Pennsylvania, other states surrounding the Great Lakes.
So far, its not clear how the little alligator made its way to South Milwaukee this week.