What Was This Gator Doing All The Way Up In Pennsylvania?

What was an alligator doing in snowy Pennsylvania? The gator wasn't on a ski trip in the Poconos, that's for sure.

Police nicknamed the three-foot alligator “El Chompo” after it was found guarding the stash in a Pennsylvania drug den.

"Quite frankly, as far as we can tell with these drug dealers, the alligator may have been the brains of the operation," the district attorney in the case was reported to have said.

The gator's namesake, the notorious Mexico drug lord Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán, was recently convicted of multiple drug charges in a United States court.

Drug dealers commonly use pets with a mean reputation to protect their supply.

We think alligators are happier in their natural swampy habitats. You can see them up close on one of our daily New Orleans Airboat Swamp Tours.

In a bit of a happy ending, El Chompo has a temporary home at a Delaware zoo before a planned move to a nature preserve in Florida