Some surprised Staten Island police officers responded to a report of a burglary at a home in Mariners Harbor. Instead of a thief, officers found a reptile.

"They found an alligator in the house. I'm like, 'What? No that's impossible.' Come out, I see them they take it away, I'm like, 'Oh my goodness,'" said Edward, a neighbor.

Police went through an unlocked back door of the home on Bush Avenue around 6:30 p.m. Tuesday. That's when they found the three-foot-long alligator in an empty bathtub. No one else was inside the home at the time.

Neighbors found the details hard to believe.

Neighbor: "What? Was that down the street? On Bush Avenue." She goes, "That's my block." I said, "Yeah, I know."

Q: What do you make of that?

Neighbor: What are you going to do? People like pets.

Q: But an alligator?

Neighbor: Well, that's a little crazy, right?

The Emergency Service Unit helped rescue the reptile. They say the alligator was not hurt and was later taken to an Animal Care and Control Center in Manhattan for evaluation.

Police say they are now investigating whether the alligator was being kept illegally as a pet.

Meanwhile, neighbors say they saw around six men moving in boxes three days ago.

"I did see them bringing in crates of clear stuff, but it wasn't really visible. I know they bought a lot of stuff in there. But I mean, very weird, very weird. You don't see that a lot," Edward said.

John, a construction worker, has been renovating the house next door for the last couple weeks. He says he's just glad the gator didn't get loose.

"Oh, forget about it. I would have freakin' ran for my life," John said.



No arrests have been made. Now, residents are asking where the reptile came from.

"There's a river right across the road, so, it's suprising. Maybe it's somebody's pet or something," said one neighbor.

One thing the neighbors can all agree on is that they're happy to say, "See you later, alligator."