Camouflaged toy alligator removed from Mass. trail to prevent ‘mini panic attacks’

A camouflaged toy was removed from a Massachusetts trail to prevent further “mini panic attacks” after it was thought to be a real alligator.

Andover Animal Control received a call regarding an alligator at Deer Jump Reservation.

“Nervous to get too close, [the callers] described what they were able to see before we ventured in,” the animal control office wrote on Facebook.

• Read more: The man who kept Wally the Alligator in his West Springfield backyard for 26 years wants his remains

But soon they were belly laughing. The alligator was just a toy but it had been “very well camouflaged and placed to look like the real thing,” animal control said.

“We retrieved and removed the toy to prevent others from having mini panic attacks while walking the trails,” officials said, also reminding walkers to always have their dog leashed.

Animal control said it wasn’t the first time someone had called about an alligator.

• Read more: Alligator, some 2 to 3 feet long and wearing a collar, found wandering along a residential street in Enfield

In 2021, an alligator was found in the Westfield River. And in 2012, Animal Control Director Emanuel Maciel told the Standard-Times of New Bedford that they get calls about alligators a couple of times a year.

“… thankfully this one was made of rubber instead of scales,” animal control wrote.

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