A seven-foot alligator was found in a California river and wildlife authorities aren’t sure how the animal got there.

Patrick Foy, a law enforcement division captain with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, confirmed to Fox News Digital that the alligator was found in Sacramento County in early April, but the reptile has died.

Before the alligator’s death, the animal was captured and brought into the Wildlife Care Association of Sacramento, a wildlife rescue in McClellan, California, by a man who claimed to have found the alligator swimming in the American River near Sailor Bar Regional Park.

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The man who reportedly found the alligator hasn’t been identified to the public.

Wildlife Care Association workers transferred the alligator to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.

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Photos of the alligator taken during the animal’s transfer show the reptile had red tape wrapped around its mouth.

Foy told Fox News Digital that the alligator’s reported seven-foot measurement is an approximation and other metrics, such as weight, aren’t available at this time.

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An investigation into how the alligator ended up in the American River is in progress since the reptile isn’t native to California, but officers suspect the animal could’ve been illegally released into the wild.

Alligators are a "restricted species" that require special permitting for "importation, transportation and possession" in the state of California, according to Manual 671 of the California Department of Fish and Wildlife’s Restricted Species Laws and Regulations.

The National Wildlife Federation reports that alligators are native to coastal wetlands in the southeastern U.S. and eastern Texas.

An outbreak of avian influenza in birds that has led to the death and culling of tens of thousands of domestic and wild birds in Montana, has also infected at least a dozen mammals, according to a report. 

Since the end of March, a black bear, two grizzly bears, a red fox, two raccoons, and six skunks have tested "non-negative" for the virus by the Montana Fish Wildlife and Parks and the state Veterinary Diagnostic Lab, according to the Bozeman Daily Chronicle. 

The samples are then sent to a national lab in Iowa to be confirmed as positive. 

Experts believe the mammals were infected after eating dead birds with avian flu. There’s no evidence it’s spreading from mammal to mammal.

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This comes as China reported the first known human death of the H3N8 subtype of avian influenza. The animals tested posthumously in Montana had the H5N1 strain. 

A few other people who worked closely with infected birds have been infected with the virus, but they have all recovered. 

Animals in other states have tested positive for the virus as the outbreak enters its second year, including mountain lions in California, a river otter in Wisconsin and bobcats in Colorado, according to the USDA. 

A dog in Canada was also infected and died, according to the Chronicle. 

The first case in a poultry flock in Montana occurred last April. The outbreak has killed 58 million birds so far across the country. 

Montana officials began testing animals thought to have rabies last fall after hearing of bird flu infections in mammals in other states.

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The symptoms for rabies and bird flu are clinically the same, clinical veterinary microbiologist Erika Schwarz, who works at the state lab, told the Chronicle.

"This outbreak and how long it’s persisted is unusual," she said. "It’s left a lot of scientists just baffled."

Jennifer Ramsey, a Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks veterinarian, said mammals being infected is "not something new," but during the last outbreak in 2014 and 2015 wild birds didn’t die, meaning mammals couldn’t eat their carcasses. 

"It’s not something new — mammals have been infected with avian influenza viruses in the past," Ramsey told the Chronicle. "We just haven’t dealt with it to this extent here before. It’s concerning."

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She reminded pet owners to keep their animals away from dead birds.