A 7-foot alligator ends up in an American river — and no one knows how it got there

A 7-foot alligator has reportedly been found in an American river, leaving California officials baffled.

A fisherman told his friend. He saw the crocodile KXTV reported on some rocks in the river near Sears Bar in Fair Oaks, a suburb of Sacramento.

The friend caught the gator, secured its mouth with duct tape and turned it over to the Wildlife Care Society, the station reported.

The Society takes care of lost or injured wild animals, it is. Not armed KXTL reports to deal with a man-sized elk. So he turned the trailer over to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.

Now the agency is trying to figure out how. He ended up in the riverKCRA reported.

Wildlife Care Association facility manager Sandra Foreman told KXTV that the alligator could not have stayed in the cold river for long.

State wildlife officers said someone released the alligator or turned it over to an association with a story about its discovery, KXTL reported.

It is illegal to own alligators in California.

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