LYONS FALLS — State environmental conservation officers a few weeks ago removed two baby alligators from a village residence.
On March 28, officer Fay A. Fuerch was contacted by the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office about the situation, and a tenant gave her a Ramen noodle box with two alligator hatchlings in it, according to a state Department of Environmental Conservation release.
The alligators had been picked up one week earlier at a pet store in Florida, the release said, and two people who brought them here were charged with illegal possession of the alligators, answerable in West Turin Town Court. DEC officials did not name the pair.
The baby alligators, which had only been fed earthworms since leaving the pet store and did not appear to be in good health, were taken to the New York State Zoo at Thompson Park in Watertown for veterinary care and temporary housing, the release states. Arrangements are being made for the animals to be transferred to an educational facility once they are healthy, it adds.