DelaGator? Picture prompts rumors of alligator in Delaware park

Show Caption Hide Caption Photo prompts rumor of 'Delagator' in Brandywine Hundred A photo taken earlier this month at Talley Day Park has some believing an alligator is in living in the park's pond. 6/29/17

Don't call it the DelaGator.

New Castle County officials are trying to calm rumors that alligators have taken up residence in a small pond in Talley Day Park off Foulk Road in Brandywine Hundred.

Christian Tauber shot a Loch Ness Monster-like image showing what appears to be a serpentine creature with a ridged back disturbing the water in the pond. The photo has stoked rumors and speculation on social media about what is lurking in the popular park.

He took the photo two weeks ago while watching wildlife on the banks of a small pond in the park.

"I hear a commotion and some movement ... I turned around, point the camera and just sort of click away," Tauber said Thursday.

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He uploaded the photos to his computer the following day.

"I fell almost over because the picture showed what looked to me to be two alligators side by side," Tauber said. "It looks like an alligator to me and other people and everyone I showed it to."

New Castle County government spokesman Jason Miller said officials have received multiple reports from residents about "one or more unidentified animals or fish" in the pond and "out of an abundance of caution" installed a fence to keep the public away.

"Officials observed the pond over several days and have been unable to make positive identification," Miller said in a written statement.

Wednesday night, staff from a local zoo visited the pond and did not observe anything out of the ordinary.

"Wildlife professionals have carefully reviewed photographs taken by residents and based on those images believe that the objects with distinctive markings are most likely to be an invasive species of fish," Miller said.

For now, the fence will stay up to ensure the pond is home only to "native species," Miller added.

Tauber said officials told him it looked like a bicycle tire, though he was unable to find any tire on the banks of the pond on a subsequent visit. He said other people have since shown him pictures he said shows evidence something odd in the pond.

Lt. John McDerby, of the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control's Fish & Wildlife Police, said state officials have visited the pond but have not seen an alligator. He said New Castle County is handling the situation.

Alligators are not native to Delaware, but residents can keep gators as pets with a special license from the state.

"We occasionally get alligator reports and wind up having to deal with alligators," McDerby said. "Most often they are pets or gators that people captured or bought legally or illegally and had as pets and when they get too big they released it in a local pond."