The marine life at the Long Island Aquarium in Riverhead has a new friend.
A small alligator was caught Monday at Great Rock Golf Club in Wading River, according to animal control officers in Suffolk County. The small gator was taken to the aquarium and will be used to “educate people,” animal control said.
The number of alligators caught on Long Island over the past week now stands at four, officials said.
The most recent sighting came Wednesday when for the second day in a row an alligator was spotted walking in the parking lot of a Pathmark in Baldwin.
And just one week ago, Suffolk police captured a baby alligator crawling in a front yard of a Mastic Beach home. A Moriches Drive resident notified police after he spotted the gator in his flowerbed, police said.
On Wednesday, the Nassau County SPCA offered a $2,000 reward for information that leads to the arrest of the person who may be releasing the reptiles.