HUNTINGTON - Human beings weren't the only ones basking in a sudden spate of warm weather over the weekend.

An alligator was spotted Saturday sunbathing by a small pond, marking a startling sight for a community about 35 miles from Manhattan. The reptile, an American alligator, is native to the South, and it is against New York state law to own one, said Ray Gross, the chief of the Suffolk County Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

Green with yellowish stripes and roughly 2 feet long, the animal appeared to be about 3 years old, Gross said. Its gender was unknown.

Suffolk County police were involved in capturing the alligator, which “wasn't too happy to see us,” said Officer Vinny O'Shaughnessy.

“We were incredulous at first, but then we knew that we had to do something about it,” he said.

The SPCA is looking for whoever may have released the alligator. He or she could face animal cruelty charges, Gross said, noting that the animal had probably been raised in captivity and would be unable to fend for itself in the wild.

If rare, sightings of alligators and their reptilian relatives are not unheard-of in the New York City metropolitan area. An alligator turned up in June on a front lawn in Lindenhurst, also on Long Island. In November, New York City police found a caiman - a species of crocodile - in a cardboard box in a housing complex in Brooklyn.