Alligator found in Johnson City

JOHNSON CITY — It was just like any other day.

Cliff Bickham III, 19, was riding his bike around the village Wednesday afternoon with his 16-year-old brother, Jared, when he saw a small turtle scurry into a drainage area at the corner of CFJ Boulevard and Lester Avenue.

“Let’s follow it,” he yelled to his brother.

Follow it they did, and one creature led to the discovery of another: an American alligator.

The 27-inch striped reptile had somehow made its way into the inches-deep water under the Lester Avenue overpass, just across the street from CFJ Park.

Cliff Bickham snapped a few pictures of the alligator with his cell phone and sent them to his parents.

“We came down there and we said, ‘Holy cow, it really is an alligator,” said the boys’ father, Cliff Bickham Jr. “You don’t expect to find that here, near JC, New York.”

The father cautiously snapped up the creature by grabbing it by the back of its neck and tail before taping its mouth shut and covering its eyes in an attempt to settle it down. The family then loaded the gator into their black Chevrolet Tahoe and headed to the Johnson City Police Department, with the now-calm alligator sitting in the father’s lap as the boys’ mother Holly Bickham drove.

Police tried contacting the state Department of Environmental Conservation with no luck before the Bickhams came up with a temporary solution. They called Jordan Patch, former owner of the Reptile Co. in Endicott, who picked up the alligator and took it to his home in Conklin.

Now the gator sits in a kiddie pool while Patch waits to hear from the DEC, which contacted Johnson City police on Thursday.

How the reptile got to Johnson City is anyone’s guess. Patch said it has some marks on its mouth that appear to be from a cage the reptile was kept in but had outgrown. New York state law does not allow alligators to be kept as pets; they can be kept only with a permit if the owner can prove they are being used for educational purposes.

David Riehlman, a wildlife biologist with the DEC, said incidents like this happen once every few years. Venturing a guess, he said the alligator was likely being kept as a pet illegally and escaped or was let go.

“Most likely, this is an American alligator that somebody might have picked up in Florida and had it for a while and decided they didn’t want it any longer,” Riehlman said. “That’s probably the most likely source of an animal like that that ends up in a body of water in New York state.”

The alligator was a welcomed sight for Patch, who said it was well-cared for. He closed down the Reptile Co. — a pet shop that presented educational programs at area schools and was permitted to keep three alligators — a year-and-a-half ago after opening a bar and grill in Conklin. Now, he said, the reptile, which can grow to up to 9 feet long, has him thinking about opening up a new shop.

He’s even given it a name: C.J, after the park.

“With C.J. now falling on our doorstep, this would be the perfect way to get back into the educational shows if we can get relicensed,” said Patch, who may try to obtain a DEC permit to keep the reptile himself. “I’ve been re-inspired. He’s a perfect ambassador animal.”