An abandoned pet alligator was found frozen to death on a Ohio road early Sunday.
WHIO-TV reported Monday that the four-foot-long alligator was discovered on Hellencamp Avenue near West Second Street in Trotwood around 8 a.m. EST Sunday.
Police contacted Outreach for Animals, who determined the alligator was frozen solid and not able to be revived. Police believe someone dumped the animal on the street sometime Saturday night or early Sunday morning.
Russ Muntz with Outreach for Animals said the reptile appeared to be in good health and well fed prior to its death.
“Our job here is to rescue these animals and find them a retirement home," Muntz said.
"We have two rescue groups we work with that probably would have been happy to take this alligator,” he said. “But, this alligator, it was just left to die.”
With alligators and other wild animals now banned in Ohio, Muntz said anyone who needs to dispose of an animal should call a local outreach program rather than letting the animal go into the environment.
The temperatures Sunday morning in the area were in the lower teens and had been as low as the single digits over the past week.
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