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Who keeps dropping off gators at NY grocery lot?

Posted at 5:59 PM, Oct 04, 2012
and last updated 2012-10-04 17:59:23-04

Baldwin, New York (CBS)--An alligator was found in a Long Island supermarket parking lot on Wednesday, just one day after another gator was discovered in the same parking lot.

The three to four-foot long alligator was found in the Pathmark parking lot Wednesday afternoon.  The gator found there on Tuesday was two to three-feet long.

The reptiles were captured and given to the Nassau County Emergency Services Unit.  Mary O'Brien -- whose father was a police officer and sometimes had to bring home abandoned reptiles -- took in both gators and is taking care of them for the next several weeks.

"They're pretty healthy,” said O’Brien. “You can tell that they've been well fed.”

In about a month they will be sent to a place in Florida where the gators will be treated as if they're in their own retirement community. 

"What is most unfortunate is that they have been taken out of their natural habitat and they've been humanized,” said O’Brien.   And that goes for every animal that lives in the wild, is that they should stay in their natural habitat."

The ASPCA believes the gators were abandoned by their owner once they started growing bigger, since alligators are not native to Long Island. 

Alligators can grow to as long as 10 to 12 feet. 

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