The Monmouth County SPCA is looking for a person they say abandoned an alligator in below-freezing temperatures in Neptune Township.

Officials say that the young reptile was found in an empty lot in a plastic container filled with Christmas trash.

“It’s cruelty. Absolutely,” says Monmouth County SPCA executive director Ross Licitra. “They actually just took it, put it outside and left it there to die.”

A young good Samaritan who lives nearby found the gator. The boy’s family immediately called police.

SPCA officials are now keeping the alligator near a heating pad and warm water at the Eatontown facility. It will eventually be taken to the state Division of Fish and Wildlife.

Officials are looking to file animal cruelty charges against whoever left the animal in the lot on Sunday.

“This did not happen as an accident,” Licitra says.

Licitra is also a Republican county commissioner who is up for re-election this year. He says keeping an alligator as a pet is illegal in New Jersey.

“Alligators or crocodiles are not native to New Jersey and aren't accustomed to being in very, very cold weather,” Licitra says. “So whoever abandoned this animal did so in a really cruel and inhumane way.”

Anyone who might have information about this incident is asked to call SPCA Humane Law Enforcement Chief Mike Goldfarb at 732-496-9719.