August 08, 2025
Provided Image/Bucks County Park Rangers
Ryan Asplundh, a Bucks County native who now runs the nonprofit Jupiter Alligator & Wildlife Sanctuary in Florida, captured a small alligator in Bristol Township's Magnolia Lake on Thursday night. He plans to transport the reptile to Florida and give it a new home.
A small alligator that was spotted swimming in a lake in Bristol Township has been captured and will soon be taken to a reptile sanctuary in Florida, Bucks County officials said Friday.
The roughly 4-foot-long gator was first spotted Thursday afternoon in Magnolia Lake, a popular fishing spot that covers about 25 acres in the Silver Lake Nature Center.
Ricky Sánchez, who was fishing in the lake, briefly caught the gator on his line before it got away. He posted a video on Instagram, shocked to see the non-native species in Magnolia Lake.
"What the f--- is an alligator doing here, bro?" Sánchez said in the video.
Joined by other onlookers at the lake, Sánchez posted a second video and said Bristol police had just arrived. Local authorities contacted the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission and the Pennsylvania Game Commission for assistance.
"Please use caution and avoid using the creek until it’s safe," Bristol police wrote Thursday afternoon on Facebook, where they shared Sánchez's videos. "Also, if you’re looking to check out some alligators, we’ve heard there’s a great exhibit at Adventure Aquarium in Camden, NJ!"
When alligators turn up in the wild in Pennsylvania, it's either because they have escaped or they were abandoned by their owners. It's legal to keep them as pets in Pennsylvania, but some wildlife experts have urged lawmakers to ban the practice because the animals are often let loose and can pose a danger to the public.
Kyle Asplundh, a Bucks County native who now owns an alligator sanctuary in Florida, was in the area on Thursday and heard about the story at Magnolia Lake. Like any good "Florida Man" worth the name, he sprung into action and called Bristol police to offer his expertise in catching the gator.
Asplundh told the Bucks County Courier Times he arrived at Magnolia Lake around 8:30 p.m. to find several amateurs in the lake hoping to capture the reptile. Asplundh used the advantage of nightfall to spot the reptile's reflective eyes with a flashlight. He then followed the gator into an area of the lake dense with lily pads and corralled it with the tail tucked between his legs.
Bucks County Park Rangers said they took custody of the gator from Asplundh around 10:30 p.m. They told Asplundh the Fish & Boat Commission had instructed them to shoot the animal, but Asplundh offered to take the gator to his nonprofit Jupiter Alligator & Wildlife Center in Florida. The compound offers refuge to hundreds of misplaced crocodilians and "nuisance" gators from areas where they're native.
The Magnolia Lake gator was held overnight by Bucks County Park Rangers and turned over to Asplundh's care on Friday.
“Bucks County Parks and Recreation and the Park Rangers thank Mr. Asplundh for his help in bringing this unusual incident to a close," Bucks County Park Ranger Chief Patrick Durkin said.
