Two alligators seen in northwest Ohio, one remains at large

Two alligators were spotted in the St. Mary’s River in northwest Ohio earlier this month, WHIO reported.

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A spokesperson for the Ohio Department of Agriculture told the news station that one of the gators was killed by law enforcement and that the other is still out there somewhere. The department and law enforcement officials have been searching for them since an anonymous tip on May 7 according to Megan Harshbarger, a spokesperson for the ODA.

Officials said they don’t know where the alligators came from. Owning an alligator is illegal in Ohio unless the owner has had the animal in their possession since 2012 and has a state permit, according to Yahoo.com. The St. Mary’s River, which is about 100 miles southwest of Toledo, is far north of the animals’ usual habitat.

Alligators’ normal range in the United States is from east-central North Carolina to a crescent that spans the Deep South to southeastern Oklahoma and southern Arkansas, and east Texas to the Rio Grande, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. North Carolina is considered the northern extent of their habitat.