Alligator has a zoo home

Where the alligator came from, no one knows. But yesterday, after an overnight rest stop, the 41/2-foot reptile was already on view at Norristown's Elmwood Park Zoo.

The gator was discovered Thursday afternoon, sunbathing on a rocky bank of Pennypack Creek in Bryn Athyn.

"Obviously a pet gone wrong," said Shawn Tarman, an Upper Moreland animal control officer at the scene.

Tarman's counterpart from Warminster, Craig Claycomb, netted his brownish-black prey. Then he carried it "like a baby" - after its snout was secured with medics' tape - and put it into a large dog carrier, Tarman said.

The alligator spent the night, unsedated, behind a Little Mermaid shower curtain in the bathtub of Buddy Mullen, Warminster's public-works director.

"He's pretty friendly," Mullen said yesterday morning. "If you rub him underneath his neck a little bit, he likes that."

By lunchtime yesterday, the gator had a new address at Elmwood's wetlands exhibit, near the otters, flamingos, turtles, and small wading birds.

Taking in foundlings is "not something we normally do, but we were actually looking for a larger alligator," said David Wood, the zoo's curator.

Mullen transported the reptile to Norristown in a purple kiddie pool in the back of his Chevy Suburban.

Since it could be quarantined in its display - which includes a swimming area - visitors were able to view the gator right away. Six school groups and attendees of a Summer Sizzle family fun night were scheduled at the zoo yesterday. (For information on hours and tickets, go to www.elmwoodparkzoo.org or call 610-277-3825.)

The alligator is healthy and weighs 30 pounds, Wood said. Its sex will not be confirmed until next week, when a veterinarian performs the delicate probing procedure.

"This was somebody's pet that they no longer wanted or could take care of," Wood speculated. When gators get big, the novelty wears off. "They're not cuddly. They're not warm and fuzzy."

Last month, wildlife officials searched Haddonfield's Hopkins Pond after reported alligator sightings, but they failed to locate anything more threatening than a inflatable gator float.

Mullen's animal foster home has two other residents - a king snake snared last Saturday in Upper Southampton and a tarantula taken from a Warminster home on Thursday.

"Three weeks ago, we had a 12-foot python, but the kid came in and claimed it," Mullen said.

Elmwood Park Zoo needs help naming its new alligator. To make a suggestion - and for video and more photos - go to http://go.philly.com/gatorEndText