MILWAUKEE — Milwaukee Police are working to learn who left the remains of an alligator sitting beside trash behind an apartment building Thursday night.



Police responded to a loose animal call around 6:37 p.m. in an alley near Sherman Blvd. and Capitol Drive. They couldn't discover where the animal came from and called DPW for removal.

"Oh wow. Eww," said Laura, who lives down the street from where the alligator was found.

She was one of several people who saw the decaying alligator Friday morning, more than 12 hours after police responded to the call.

"It stunk up the whole alley," said Capri, a resident of the apartment. "I thought it was a dead body."

Capri was shocked, especially since he said he’d never seen the gator before.

Alex Mojica, an employee at Marineland Pets estimated there are roughly two dozen alligators being kept as pets here in Milwaukee.

He said light regulation of exotic animal ownership in Wisconsin could be the reason many owners are researching proper care and disposal.

"They say you usually want to go three times the length of the reptile. So if you have an 8-foot alligator, you'd want something quite large," Mojica said.

The alligator was eventually removed from the alley by DPW. It remains unclear who might’ve left the animal in the alley.