Filed under: Pets News

If anyone's ever mocked you for falling for an urban legend or a farfetched tale, today is the day you get to say, "I told you so."

A baby alligator (originally reported as a crocodile) mysteriously appeared in Astoria, Queens, N.Y. this past weekend, the N.Y. Daily News reports.

OK, no one actually saw the two-foot-long scaly creature emerging from the sewer, but it was hiding out under a Datsun on the street which is close enough. When novelist Joyce Hackett spotted the animal, she told the Daily News, "The poor little thing looked dazed and confused."

Fortunately, cops were able to snag the alligator and bring it to safety. "He's fine," said Michael Pastore of Animal Care & Control of New York City. Pastore tells the Daily News that the stray alligator will be donated to the Poconos Reptile Sanctuary in Pennsylvania.

Pastore believes the little alligator was abandoned, and probably a little scared. "He did let out a couple of little yelps," Pastore told the Daily News, "and if you've ever seen a nature show, a baby alligator would let out a little yelp to the mother when it is in trouble."

What's more disquieting is that the gator wasn't alone. According to the Daily News, officers corralled two more reptiles loose in the area within 24 hours. One was an Argentine tegu -- a large lizard that can grow up to four feet -- and the other was a "very large" iguana.

For more information on the story and to see a Daily News video, go here.

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