• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to footer
Zippy Facts Logo

Zippy Facts

Interesting Random Facts

  • Animals
  • Culture
  • Firsts
  • Food
  • Geography
  • Health
  • History
  • Inventions
  • Language
  • Mythology
  • Odds
  • People
  • Religion
  • Science
  • Space
  • Universe
  • World
You are here: Home / Animals / Do Alligators and Crocodiles Live in the Sewers of New York City or is the Urban Legend a Myth?

Do Alligators and Crocodiles Live in the Sewers of New York City or is the Urban Legend a Myth?

July 2, 2020 by Karen Hill

Digging through a list of New York Times stories over the years will turn up a dozen instances in which alligators or crocodiles have mysteriously shown up in the New York City area, usually in Westchester County, for some reason.

However, almost none of the stories has anything to do with sewers, and most or all of the reptiles have turned out to be lost pets.

The “alligators in New York” stories began back in 1932, when two boys started a folktale that lingers to this day in New York mythology. The two teenagers said that they pulled a two-foot-long dead alligator from a sewer drain in New York, and claimed that the Bronx River was filled with them.

The stories hit the newspapers, and a citywide gator hunt ensued. However, upon further investigation, the dead alligator turned out to be a neighbor’s pet crocodile that had escaped from its pen weeks before the story unfolded. Likewise, no gators were found in the Bronx River, and the reptile frenzy died down after the authorities called off the hunt.

Still, rumors of alligators in the sewers just won’t die, and occasionally someone dumps a pet into a city waterway, feeding the rumors further, as happened in 2001 with a two-foot caiman that was dumped in Central Park’s Harlem Meer.

The New York City Bureau of Water and Sewer Operations gets a handful of inquiries about them each year.

The bureau’s standard response is that not one representative of Sewer Operations has ever seen an alligator in the city’s sewers.

The bureau is quick to point out that alligators, cold blooded, heat-loving animals that they are, wouldn’t be able to survive the freezing temperatures, not to mention the bacteria that thrives in the sewer system.

And the most convincing evidence according to the BWSO design chief is that if there were alligators in the sewers, labor union officials would’ve been quick to cite the toothy work hazards as reason for another pay hike for alligators in New employees.

That hasn’t happened yet. Stay tuned.

Related Facts

  • Which Explorers First Explored the Continents of the World?
  • What is the Difference between Alligators and Crocodiles and where do they come from?
  • Why don’t sink drains smell bad if they lead straight to the sewers?
  • Are Alligators the Same as Crocodiles?
  • What was the European Age of Exploration?
  • How Big Is the Population In Mexico City and Is Mexico City Larger than New York City?

Filed Under: Animals

About Karen Hill

Karen Hill is a freelance writer, editor, and columnist. Born in New York, her work has appeared in the Examiner, Yahoo News, Buzzfeed, among others.

Previous Post: « How many Different Groups of Reptiles are there in the World?
Next Post: What kind of Fruit is an Alligator Pear and where does it Grow? »

Footer

Follow

  • Facebook
  • Flickr
  • GitHub
  • Google+
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • Medium
  • Pinterest
  • StumbleUpon
  • Tumblr
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Categories

Accomplishments Animals Culture Firsts Food Geography Health History Inventions Language Mythology Odds People Religion Science Space Universe World Your Body

About

Zippy Facts empowers the world by serving educational content that is accessible to everyone.

A tribute to growing up, zippyfacts.com showcases interesting and unusual facts about the world.

Our mission is to use technology to facilitate knowledge transfer and sharing.

Copyright © 2020 Zippy Facts

  • About Us
  • Contact
  • Privacy Policy