Alligator returned to zoo after woman stole it and raised it as a pet for 20 years By Isabel Keane
March 7, 2023 12:45pm Updated
See you later, alligator!
An eight-foot alligator taken from a Texas zoo 20 years ago by a volunteer who raised it as a pet has been returned to the zoo, officials said.
Texas Parks and Wildlife officials discovered the massive gator at a home in Buda, south of Austin, while investigating another case nearby.
The woman who stole the alligator had been a volunteer at Animal World & Snake Farm Zoo in New Braunfels over two decades ago the zoo said in a video posted Friday.
Investigators believe the woman, who kept the alligator in her backyard as a “pet,” either stole an alligator egg or hatchling.
“Alligators will have a nest of 50, 60 eggs at a time. So it would have been very easy for someone to take an egg or a hatchling home just kind of without anyone noticing,” Jarrod Forthman, the director of Animal World & Snake Farm told KSAT.
Game Wardens said the alligator was healthy and well cared for but had outgrown the woman’s backyard.
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Poster Comment:
Pics at source.