A long way from its home, a small alligator was rescued by a Massachusetts fisherman Tuesday after it was spotted in the Westfield River for months.
Jeremy White, a worker for the state’s department of conservation and recreation, said he saw a video of the alligator on the news and decided he was going to see it for himself, The Boston Globe reported Tuesday.
White drove his boat to the area in the river where the alligator was spotted but couldn’t see it and decided to throw in a fishing line. The alligator appeared and White pushed closer to it.
He said the reptile was “trying to warm up in the sun because its eyes were closed. I was able to get up right next to it, so I just reached out and grabbed it.”
According to West Springfield Animal Control, the reptile is in good condition and is in the care of the state’s environmental police.
It wasn’t clear how the 3-foot (1-meter) alligator appeared in the western Massachusetts area known as the Berkshires, the newspaper reported. American alligators typically inhabit the southeast.
White said he named the alligator Rambo, after Sylvester Stallone’s infamous action character because of how long it braved the cold New England water.
The Associated Press contributed to this article.