Your daily adult tube feed all in one place!
Moment alligator swims through lake in Northeastern state that's far from its natural habitat
An alligator has been spotted in a Pennsylvania lake hundreds of miles from its natural habitat.
The five-foot-long reptile stunned eyewitnesses who spotted it near a jetty in Lake Erie on Sunday.
'We've been very diligent in making sure to keep an eye on the water and of course on the land,' said Julie Slomski, Port Authority's executive director told WNCT.
'We've not had a sighting since then. We have a team in place that is just monitoring our entire footprint and of course, on the water, just to make sure everyone is safe.'
She believes that the creature may have been an exotic pet that was released into the lake.
An alligator has been spotted in a Pennsylvania lake hundreds of miles from its natural habitat
'The concern is if somebody just released it in the bay like what we're hearing happened, it's disappointing because again, it puts many people in danger along with the gator itself,' Slomski said.
Officials are now working to trap the animal before it succumbs to the bitter winter.
'They do go into a hibernation sort of thing called brumation where they won't eat quite as much during the winter and their bodies will slow down because they're cold-blooded versus us and other mammals that are warm-blooded,' Darren Julius, reptile keeper at the Erie Zoo added.
'They need the sun, they need the heat to be able to metabolize anything that they do eat.
Experts believe based on the size and description of the gator that the animal is around two to four-years-old.
The public is being urged to keep their distance if they do spot the alligator.
The five-foot reptile stunned eyewitnesses who spotted it near a jetty in Lake Erie on Sunday
However, Julius insists it is 'definitely more scared of you than you are of it'.
'It'll probably just swim away from you anytime you're within like 10 feet of it. It's not really going to come after you,' Julius added.
The Port Authority is asking people to call them with any sightings at 814-455-7557 extension 223 so their team can follow up.
Although there has been an increase in some areas, alligator attacks in the US are still relatively rare and only a fraction of them are fatal.
Florida is known to be the home of alligators - over the last 10 years it has averaged eight fatal bites per year.
However, the number of attacks has increased by 66 percent in recent years, from six a year between 1971 and 1986, to 10 a year between 1987 and 2017.