‘Jaws 7’ baffles LI

It’s no croc — investigators are scrambling to nab the snake in the grass responsible for abandoning an astonishing seven alligators across Long Island in the past 30 days.

So far, officials remain dumbfounded by the glut of gators.

“It seems like someone with a sense of humor. Maybe it’s a University of Florida fan and they’re spreading the word,” speculated Dr. Russell Burke, a Hofstra University herpetologist.

The first gator was nabbed on a lawn in Mastic on Sept. 28, according to Suffolk SPCA Chief Roy Gross, who said another was corralled on Oct. 1 at the Great Rock Golf Course in Wading River; two more on Oct. 2 and 3 in a Waldbaum’s parking lot in Baldwin; another on Oct. 7 outside an Applebee’s in Shirley; and one more on Oct. 20 in Lily Pond Park in Lake Ronkonkoma. Another was caught in the past few weeks in Yaphank, he said.

All the critters were American alligators, a species not indigenous to Long Island — except maybe on pocketbooks and high heels.

Gross suspects a “domino theory” could be at play.

Once news broke of the first abandoned reptile, he theorized, owners across Long Island dumped their illicit pets.

“They’re worried we’re closing in on them,” he said.

And they’d better worry. Gross’s elite Emergency Animal Response team — specially trained to wrassle gators and other beasts — is on the case.

Things have gotten so bad that Gary Rogers of the Nassau SPCA suggested a gator amnesty day — when owners could turn in their illegal pets without fear of fine or arrest.

“If it was a gun in a parking lot, there would be a lot more of an effort to find out who left it there,” he told The Post.

All the abandoned reptiles were just a few years old and about 2 to 3 feet in length — still big enough to tear a pinky off. They can grow to 14 feet, weigh 1,000 pounds and live 50 years.

Since 2003, 36 alligators have been found on Long Island — but eight were found in one home back in 2006 — making the gator data from the past month even more astounding, Gross said.

They’re illegal to possess in New York, and the creatures can’t survive a New York winter outside. Owning one can cost a $250 fine or up to a year in jail. Owners who dump a gator also face charges of animal cruelty and endangering the public.

Baby gators can be bought for about $90 online, or cheaper at trade shows.

One theory suggests that a lone gator goon who went to a reptile flea market in Pennsylvania — where owning an alligator is legal — bought a few dozen and brought them back to Long Island to sell.

“Someone had to sell them to all these people on Long Island,” said John Heiser, 56, vice president of the Long Island Herpetological Society. “Then people got tired of them.”

Abandoned gators wind up with rescuers such as Michelle Curtin, co-director of Second Chances Wildlife Rescue, which finds them homes in sanctuaries.

Curtin, 42, is housing the Lily Pond gator, which will be used to teach kids that an alligator is a far cry from a cat or dog.

“They are not pets. It doesn’t sit on the kitchen floor while we have dinner,” she said.