A Belgian park closes temporarily after a "good-sized" alligator was spotted.

Brussels, June 18 (EFE).- A park in the Belgian municipality of Oupeye, near Liège, has closed the public after a passerby reported the presence of a "good-sized" alligator.

The town's mayor, Socialist Sere Fillot, confirmed on Wednesday that the citizen who reported the incident "knows reptiles well," and the police have also confirmed that "he is not a fabricator," according to the local newspaper Le Soir.

"We can't rule out the possibility that there is indeed an alligator that has made this body of water its home and can survive there," the mayor told Sudinfo newspaper.

On Facebook, Fillot confirmed that although "it may seem incredible," a report of the animal's sighting had indeed been received, adding that the facilities had been sealed off "as a precaution, to avoid any risk of danger to citizens."

Located in eastern Belgium on a former industrial site where gravel was obtained, the Gravière de Brock park has a large lake that could possibly be the refuge of an alligator , a reptile native to tropical or subtropical regions that, depending on the species, can grow up to 6 metres in length.

Belgian authorities have called in Gaëtan Dopagne, a specialist in "new companion animals," to inspect the area, but he has found no trace of the animal.

"According to the descriptions, it's about a meter long. I'm more likely to think of a caiman or an alligator, because that's what sells the most at international fairs," Dopagne explained in statements reported by public broadcaster RTBF.

The specialist believes the specimen he's looking for has a body of "about 60 centimeters, so it would be a small alligator" and confirmed that the park where it was sighted would be "a paradise for it" during the warm season because there is "food for months: carp, ducks, nocturnal rodents, frogs..."

However, he was more skeptical about the reptile's ability to survive the winter because alligators "are fragile animals" and could catch "pneumonia, which can be fatal."

"It's not a tyrannosaurus. A one-meter-long animal isn't going to eat a swimmer, but its bites hurt. Its teeth are very sharp," said the expert to reassure the population. He will conduct another hunt at night, hoping that the reflection of the light beams in the animal's eyes will give it away. EFE

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