This is Jersey, not Florida: Alligator found in hotel pool

ATLANTIC CITY — An alligator was found in the swimming pool of a hotel on Tuesday during a police raid.

Law enforcement from the Atlantic County Prosecutor's Office and Atlantic City Police were involved in an investigation at the Bayview Inn & Suites on Route 40 and discovered the alligator in the pool.

Animal control officers were part of the raid as they expected to take away several dogs, according to the Press of Atlantic City.

The alligator was taken to the Cape May County Zoo, where it will be placed into quarantine before being driven to the Croc World Reptile Park and Wildlife Center in Tampa in the fall, according to Kevin Wilson of the zoo's Reptile House.

"We started the program years ago. People who call us about alligators since they're impossible to place in New Jersey because they're illegal to have as pets.  We take in any alligators call about and hold them in an off-exhibit site away from the rest of the population just to make sure they have no parasites or diseases," Wilson told New Jersey 101.5.

The nature of the investigation or how the alligator wound up in the pool owas not disclosed by police.  NBC Philadelphia reported the gator was a pet.

Contact reporter Dan Alexander at Dan.Alexander@townsquaremedia.com.

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