LOWELL (AP) - It turns out that the "canaligator" is more than just a mascot for the Lowell Spinners minor league baseball team.
A Lowell man and his twin 7-year-old daughters spotted a real alligator swimming in a city canal on Saturday night.
Calvin Thomas said he called police, who at first thought he was joking.
The Sun of Lowell (http://bit.ly/QmeLdp ) reports that Animal Control Officer Robert Pickard caught the roughly two-foot long juvenile reptile with a net and put it in a cage for safety. The alligator appeared to be unharmed.
The little gator was turned over to a tropical animal expert in Beverly.
It's unclear how the alligator got into the canal, but authorities think it was a pet that was let loose when it got too big.