Baby alligator survives flushing

HAMILTON, Ohio, Oct. 3 (UPI) -- The head of an Ohio reptile rescue group said a baby alligator was lucky to survive being flushed down a toilet and brought to the city's wastewater plant.

Damien Oxier of Butler County, who heads the non-profit Arrowhead Reptile Rescue, said the foot-long baby was the first he knew of in the area to survive being flushed down a toilet in his 20 years on the job, he Cincinnati Enquirer reported Monday.

Oxier, whose group rescues dozens of alligators per year, said the baby alligator survived being flushed as well as the water treatment plant's "mechanical bar rack" and a "mechanized rake," which sent the gator to the first floor dumpster where he was found Tuesday.

Oxier said the gator will be taken to a foster home for about a year before being transferred to a reptile rescue facility.