A Florida reptile park has taken in an alligator that lost its nose and upper jaw to a fight or boat propeller.
Gatorland Orlando said over the weekend that the injured alligator came from a lake in nearby Sanford, about 20 miles (32 kilometers) northeast of Orlando.
“She had basically no chance of surviving in the wild with such a severe injury,” the park said in a social media post.
Over the next few days, the park's veterinarian staff will be monitoring the gator in an effort to make sure it is eating in a stress-free environment, the park said.
To get the gator to eat, the staff is cutting up small pieces of food that they will toss in the back of its throat, believing it had survived in the wild doing the same thing on its own with snails, slugs and frogs, Kathy Hernandez, a spokeswoman for the park, said in an email.
Gatorland Orlando is home to thousands of alligators and crocodiles, a breeding marsh, an aviary, a nature walk, a petting zoo and educational wildlife programs. It opened in 1949 and is considered one of the few remaining “Old Florida” tourist attractions in central Florida.
It comes after Musk posted a poll this weekend on the social media platform formerly known as Twitter that came out 70% in favor of the Infowars host, who repeatedly has called the 2012 Sandy Hook school shooting a hoax.
Flood watches are in effect in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and southern New England through Monday. The National Weather Service says 3 to 5 inches of rain is expected across parts of Long Island and southern Connecticut, with other areas in line for 2 to 3 inches.
Emergency workers and community members cleaned up Sunday from the severe weekend storms and tornadoes that also sent dozens more to the hospital while damaging buildings, turning over vehicles and knocking out power to tens of thousands.
