Alligator Taken Into Police Custody on Manhattan Street Dies: Officials

A 3-foot alligator NYPD officers took into custody after they spotted it walking across a Manhattan street has died, authorities say.

The reptilian scofflaw startled residents near Ninth Avenue and 205th Street in Inwood Thursday afternoon and was picked up by the NYPD's emergency services team, authorities said.

The reptile, which the NYPD's 34th precinct joked was having trouble hailing a trip out of town, was taken to Animal Care Centers of NYC, where workers removed the duct tape police had put on its snout and put it in an aquarium-type setting that had heat and a shallow pool of water.

The alligator died Friday morning, Animal Care Centers of NYC said. The group said it had named it CockadoodleQ.

"We have no knowledge of the conditions CockadoodleQ had lived in prior to his arrival that contributed to his death," Animal Care Centers of NYC said in a statement.

Exotic animals are illegal to have as pets in New York City. It's not clear how the gator made it onto the street, nor was it known if police were looking for an owner.

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