Officials have captured an alligator-like reptile that was lurking near Toronto's largest park.
The animal, which was spotted by a Toronto resident over the weekend, was fished out of Catfish Pond, located near High Park, shortly before 6:15 p.m. on Monday. The effort took approximately an hour long.
"We were all in (the water) trying to wrangle him," an official, who helped with the capture, told CTV Toronto Monday evening. "This is a spectacled caiman, so it's the smallest species of crocodilian but they still reach on average of two metres," he said.
Officials were first notified about the caiman after Teghan Stadnyk, whose backyard faces Toronto's Rennie Park, said she spotted the large reptile in Catfish Pond on Sunday at approximately 3:30 p.m. She said the reptile was approximately the length of an adult's arm, and was hovering in the water when she filmed it using her phone.
In the video, which was posted to YouTube by Stadnyk’s brother, the reptile is seen leisurely swimming in the west-end pond. Stadnyk said she watched the animal in the water for approximately 30 minutes.
Officials believe the caiman, a reptile native to Central and South America, was most likely someone's exotic pet before it was spotted in Catfish Pond.
It will be held at Reptilia Reptile Zoo for 30 days, then will likely be transfering it to another reptile zoo. Reptilia officials are letting the animal rest for a few days because of the stress it was under after being captured.
With a report from CTV Toronto's Ashley Rowe
