Escaped alligator spotted crossing the street in Montreal's Villeray neighbourhood

An alligator was spotted crossing Jarry Street East in Montreal on Sunday afternoon, after it escaped from a van parked nearby.

Police confirmed the reptile belongs to a company that puts on exotic animal demonstrations.

Employees were stopping for lunch in the area, police said, and accidentally let the alligator get away.

The animal made a break for it as the van's automatic door was closing.

It crossed Jarry Street near Chateaubriand Avenue and hid under a car, attracting some attention from pedestrians.

Mayssam Samaha was having a coffee with a friend in Villeray, sitting by the window, when she noticed the alligator.

"It took a few seconds for my brain to comprehend what was happening," she told CBC Montreal's Daybreak.

Her friend ran into the street to try and stop traffic to let the animal cross the street. Samaha shot some video on her cellphone.

She said the alligator was calm and moving very slowly — she remembers hearing at some point that when reptiles are cold, they don't move very fast — so she wasn't scared it would attack her.

Police said employees quickly captured the animal and returned it to the van before officers arrived on the scene. 

Initially Montreal police identified the animal as a crocodile. It is, in fact, an alligator.