7-foot alligator lands in American River — and no one knows how it got there

A 7-foot alligator reportedly found in the American River has California officials baffled.

A fisherman told a friend that he discovered the alligator on some rocks in the river near Sailor Bar in the Sacramento suburb of Fair Oaks, KXTV reported.

The friend captured the alligator, taped its mouth shut and turned it over to the Wildlife Care Association, the station said.

While the association cares for lost or injured wildlife, that’s it not equipped dealing with a man-sized alligator, KXTL reported. So the reptile turned it over to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.

Now the agency is trying to figure out how the alligator landed in the riverreported KCRA.

Sandra Foreman, the Wildlife Care Association’s facilities manager, told KXTV that the alligator probably couldn’t survive long in the cold river.

State wildlife officials suspect someone released the alligator or handed it over to the association with a fabricated story about the find, KXTL reported.

It is illegal to own an alligator in California.

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