Surviving rush hour in any major city can be a real pain, especially when that city is New York City. Then again, that’s just when human beings are involved. So imagine what it must have been like for those New Yorkers heading home who first stumbled upon an alligator trying to cross the street.

According to The New York Times, a three-foot alligator was discovered in Upper Manhattan during the Thursday evening rush hour. The animal was just moseying along, trying to make it from one block to the next, before the local authorities were called in to investigate.

Police on the scene were baffled, and even tweeted a picture just to verify what they were seeing:

So this alligator was crossing 9th Ave in #Inwood…no, really. At 205 Str. Cops took him to Animal Control #whatnext pic.twitter.com/EG5Z3bkQPl

— NYPD 34th Precinct (@NYPD34Pct) July 23, 2015

As the NY Daily News reports, the gator was most likely seeking the waters of Harlem Bay after being abandoned by its owner. Considering what the animal had probably endured before capture, Deputy Inspector Chris Morello said “he was pretty feisty.”

The police took the animal to Animal Care and Control of NYC, where initial plans included transporting the animal to a nearby sanctuary. Unfortunately, it died sometime on Friday morning while in animal control’s custody. A spokesperson said that the animal’s death was unexpected, and the cause had yet to be determined.

[h/t The New York Times, NY Daily News, Gawker]
[Image via Twitter]

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