Wildlife officials in Boston are trying to locate a small alligator that at least two people saw over the past few days in a pond along the Charles River.
Trevor Rochelle, 26, of Cambridge, was walking along the Esplanade on Sunday afternoon around 1:30 when he saw the creature, which is not native to Massachusetts and is illegal to own in the state, according to the state’s Division of Fisheries and Wildlife.
“I kind of nudged it to see if it was real and alive and would move,” he said.
The alligator was indeed alive and “hissed” at Rochelle when he tapped its nose with a stick. It then “moonwalked” backwards into one of two lagoons that connect to the Charles River and disappeared from view, he said.
Two days later, at around 7 a.m. on Tuesday, Whitney Lieberman, 28, of East Boston, saw the alligator while she was running to work, again in one of the lagoons.
“He was hard not to notice,” she said. “He was kind of swimming around a little bit.”
“I came to the realization that this is probably someone’s pet,” she added. “Like this is not normal.”
In a statement, a spokesperson for the division of fisheries and wildlife said the officials are “aware of a video showing an alligator that was reportedly taken along the Charles River Bike Path.”
“Alligators cannot survive in cold temperatures,” the spokesperson said. “MassWildlife is coordinating with Boston Animal Control and Massachusetts Environmental Police to locate and capture the animal.”
Rochelle said he hopes that officials will find the alligator before it’s too late.
“It does not belong in Boston,” he said. “We’re glad that it’s alive, but now I just want to try to follow up, close the loop, and get it to the right place.”
Truman Dickerson can be reached at truman.dickerson@globe.com.