It just depends on what century we’re talking about, here. In the early 1900s, it wasn’t unheard of for wealthy New Yorkers to bring baby Floridian alligators back to the Big Apple to keep as pets. When they decided their pets weren’t quite as cute as they’d hoped, they supposedly flushed them down the toilet.
In 1932, the New York Times reported that a group of teenagers had witnessed a gator easing itself out of the Bronx River. But don’t fret—the chances that there’s a band of toothy reptiles currently swimming through the sewage of your city these days is nil.