Authorities at the busy Chicago International Airport were up for a shock after discovering an unexpected visitor - a two-foot-long alligator.
A maintenance worker spotted the alligator under an escalator in the lower level of Terminal 3 of the O'Hare Airport on Friday.
However, authorities whisked the small alligator 'Allie' into a box with the help of a broom, the 'Chicago Tribune' reported.
The three-year-old alligator was later transferred into the care of the Chicago Herpetological Society, the report said.
The American alligator was still "in distress" from the incident and was suffering from a metabolic bone deficiency, a spokesman for the society said.
A passenger going down an escalator apparently spotted the alligator first and he grabbed a custodian who then called police, the spokesman said.
Allie was likely "dumped" there by an unknown person who carried the alligator to the airport, he said.
"Some human being physically carried it there and put it there," the spokesman said.