Officials warned on Wednesday that alligators are not native to Massachusetts and that cold temperatures in the state posed a threat to its life.

“Alligators cannot survive in cold temperatures,” a spokesperson for the Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife said. “MassWildlife is coordinating with Boston Animal Control and Massachusetts Environmental Police to locate and capture the animal.”

Thankfully, the crocodilian creature now resides in a heated tank in Kenney’s facility in Abington, where on Thursday it was “swimming around, acting like a normal alligator,” Kenney said.

“It’s going to be warmed up for a couple of days before we offer it food,” Kenney said. “It’s going to be seeing a vet today, and we’ll kind of go from there with it.”

The sight of an alligator in one of the lagoons adjoining the Charles flummoxed at least two people who saw the creature in the past couple days.

On Sunday, Trevor Rochelle, 26, was walking along the Esplanade when he saw the small alligator, which 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 when Rochelle 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.

On Tuesday morning, 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 Wednesday, 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.”

After being interviewed by NBCBoston about the alligator Wednesday night, Kenney, the owner of Joe’s Crazzy Critters, said he decided to go searching for it, arriving on the Esplanade around 8:30 p.m.

“I felt bad,” he said. “The thing was going to freeze out there.”

Kenney said he saw the creature within 15 minutes after shining his flashlight “down on some of the lily pads.”

“It was dug down into the mud, you could kind of seeing the yellow coloration,” he said.

Kenney said the alligator appeared to be around 1-year-old, and that he has been in touch with officials about next steps.

“It’s a little bit of luck,” he said.

Truman Dickerson can be reached at truman.dickerson@globe.com.