Wildlife officials in California are trying to determine how a 7-foot alligator ended up swimming in the American River.

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The Wildlife Care Association said it was contacted last week by a man who reported he captured an alligator his neighbor had spotted while fishing on the American River at Sailor Bar in Fair Oaks.

"He said, 'So I went over there with my trailer. I saw the alligator. It was hissing and I jumped on the alligator, taped its mouth shut and put it in my trailer,'" Sandra Foreman, the facility manager at the Wildlife Care Association, told KXTV.

Foreman said the alligator most likely was not in the river very long, as the cold water would have made it difficult to survive.

She said the gator was turned over to the Department of Fish and Wildlife, which is investigating the animal's origins.

Foreman said she believes the alligator was likely a pet that was abandoned by its owner when it became too large to keep.

Alligators are not legal to keep as pets in California.