A small alligator was discovered inside O’Hare International Airport Friday. Regina Waldroup reports.
It wasn’t an alligator-print bag that appeared at a baggage claim at O’Hare International Airport, it was an actual alligator.
A new kind of visitor caused a stir Friday after the Department of Aviation said a small alligator was discovered at Baggage Claim 3 in O’Hare Airport Friday morning.
Officials said the alligator was spotted by maintenance workers underneath an escalator at Baggage Claim 3.
Police said the alligator was captured in the terminal, contained in a trash can and turned over to the Chicago Herpetological Society.
No one was injured and the animal did not appear to be harmful, according to Chicago Police News Affairs Officer Hector Alfaro.
The alligator was 25 inches long and in poor condition due to "improper husbandry and poor diet," according to Jason Hood, president of the Chicago Herpetological Societ.
How the animal got into the airport or where it came from remained unclear Saturday, police said.
U.S. & World
It is illegal to own an alligator in Illinois without a permit from the Department of Natural Resources.
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