A “very aggressive” three-foot-long crocodile was found inside a cardboard box left in the parking lot of a Melville office building Tuesday, officials said.

The unusual discovery was made at about 11 a.m. at 25 Melville Park Road following an anonymous call to the Town of Huntington Animal Shelter, according to Suffolk County SPCA Chief Roy Gross.

The worker who took the call was suspicious at first, Gross said, because hoaxes are not uncommon in their experience. But when the shelter employee went to investigate the box in the parking lot of the industrial area, it had a crocodile inside it.

Gross noted the crocodile was feisty, and difficult at first to corral. But the crocodile was safely captured and transported to the animal shelter before it was turned over to the Suffolk SPCA.