Martha’s Vineyard Man and His Dog Encounter Five-Foot Alligator

Alligators are cold-blooded reptiles that thrive in subtropical and tropical freshwater wetlands – swamps – thousands of miles from southeastern Massachusetts. So how did a nearly five-foot-long American alligator find its way to Martha's Vineyard?

And don't say it must have used Google Maps.

MVTimes.com reported that "David Kelliher, a 40-year Island resident, said that on Saturday afternoon (May 10, 2025) he was walking his dog, like he often does, at Sepiessa Point Reservation – a Martha's Vineyard Land Bank property (West Tisbury) that juts into Great Pond."

"It was low tide, and he was walking over a bluff when he nearly tripped over what he described as an approximately 5-foot-long alligator," the paper reported.

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The alligator was dead and was skinned, though the head and legs were reportedly still attached. How the alligator got to the Vineyard is unknown.

While alligators cannot survive the New England climate, they occasionally turn up here.

The Cape Cod Times reported a four-foot alligator was rescued from the Westfield River by MassWildlife in 2021. The paper said a six-foot gator was captured in a West Springfield backyard in 2016.

The Times also reported that a five-foot alligator was captured "in a swampy area off Route 24 in Fall River, Massachusetts" in October 2009. The gator was reportedly taken into custody by the Massachusetts Environmental Police.

READ MORE: Remember the Fall River Alligator Captured in an Off-Ramp Swamp?

Newsweek reported that a four-foot alligator was spotted in the Connecticut River in West Springfield, Massachusetts in August 2021.

Massachusetts prohibits alligators as pets, but Rhode Island, New Hampshire and Maine allow gator ownership with the proper permitting.