Alligators in the Brooklyn!

[thestrangequark]

A week ago some construction workers felled a tree a the end of my block and left a thicket of leaves and branches in a heap about as tall as me. Today, as I was walking home, I turned the corner onto my street to find four police cruisers and two huge emergency response vans parked there, while a group of some 15 to 20 cops stood around that pile. I stopped and squinted across the street to try to see what they were doing. My first horrible thought was that there was a corpse buried under the branches, but then I saw one of the officers reach into the pile wearing thick canvass gloves, and what did he pull out? A real live alligator!

It's Bushwick, for crying out loud; a body would've been more likely!

 

[Finn]

Bushwick?

 

[thestrangequark]

Bushwick, Brooklyn, New York.

 

[scotpens]

Bushwick?

You heard the man. Bushwick.

It was probably one of those famous New York sewer alligators that decided to take a leisurely swim across the East River.

 

[thestrangequark]

The man?

 

[Captain Ice]

The man?

The hell?

Observant scotpens is...

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

The man?

The hell?

The legend?

 

[Hound of UIster]

How can there be alligators? I thought that the winter climate would prove inhospitable for cold blooded reptiles.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

They probably just came for the crocodile rock.

 

[SG-17]

How can there be alligators? I thought that the winter climate would prove inhospitable for cold blooded reptiles.

American Alligators are much more resilient to cold than other reptiles. Their habitat extends all the way up to Virginia. Plus the sewers are warm.

 

[Jetfire]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bushwick_Bill

^ The Man?

 

[scotpens]

The man?

Please excuse me for assuming. I haven't been around Trek BBS as long as some of the regulars and had no knowledge or indication of thestrangledcorpse a.k.a. thestrangequark’s gender.

EDIT: I just had a look at your Deviant Art page. Oops, is my face red.

Was it a boy alligator or a girl alligator?

 

[thestrangequark]

^hahaha, it doesn't really bother me! It's just been a long time since anyone here has mistaken me for a man. People made the mistake all the time when I was a Noob, I think because they assumed I was named after Quark on DS9 and not strange quark the particle.

Dunno if the alligator was male or female, it was just a baby, two or three feet long at most. They were trying to get it into a cat-carrier.

Anyway, in an odd and slightly creepy development, I just got this message on facebook:

Hey, sorry to track you down in a weird way, but a message on Twitter made me look up "bushwick alligator" and then steps led me to your name. Can you share some information about what you saw for BushwickBK.com? We'll check with the police to see what happened with the alligator, but we'd like a quote from you. Thanks!

I don't Twitter. How'd he find me? Whatever, it's all fun!

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

they assumed I was named after Quark on DS9 and not strange quark the particle.

I actually had never heard of "strange quark the particle" until I came to this board.

 

[scotpens]

they assumed I was named after Quark on DS9 and not strange quark the particle.

I actually had never heard of "strange quark the particle" until I came to this board.

The man who coined the name for the elementary particle actually intended it to rhyme with “pork” but had no idea how to spell it -- until he found the word “quark” in James Joyce's Finnegan's Wake.

QuarkXPress is a pretty dandy page-layout program.

 

[RJDiogenes]

Wow, the sewer alligators are real.

I guess that means they are disqualified from the Cryptozoology Avatar Contest.

 

[Tora Ziyal]

It's Bushwick, for crying out loud; a body would've been more likely!

True, but nothing should surprise you in NYC!

Off topic... I enjoyed looking at your art.

 

[Yeoman Randi]

Someone probably brought it home as a tiny baby from a trip to florida or something like that. Thought they could keep it as a pet and then realized what a stupid idea that was and let it go. It happens all the time. Doesn't make it any less shocking though!!

I also took a peek at your art. Just beautiful! That little girl drawing is wonderful.

 

[Owain Taggart]

It happens all the time.

I think I'll stay out of NYC then if it happens all the time with alligators. Safety, you know? Next thing, you'll be telling me they show up in bath tubs.

 

[M'Sharak]

they assumed I was named after Quark on DS9 and not strange quark the particle.

I actually had never heard of "strange quark the particle" until I came to this board.

So you'd been living under a rock - no big deal.

It happens all the time.

I think I'll stay out of NYC then if it happens all the time with alligators. Safety, you know? Next thing, you'll be telling me they show up in bath tubs.

It happens everywhere. In Florida there are all sorts of non-native critters living out in the Everglades, and the list doesn't come close to stopping there. As for alligators, they've cropped up in the Los Angeles area, too - not even close to native habitat.