Six-Foot American Alligator Living For 26 Years In Lansing, Illinois Basement Finally Rescued
A six-foot American Alligator was rescued on Saturday after living in an Illinois home for 26 years. Conservation officers and an alligator specialist removed the 200-pound reptile after being discovered by an appliance repairman.
While conducting some work inside the south suburban Lansing home of Charles Price, the repairman noticed something moving from inside a covered container in the basement. According to an ABC News report, the container turned out to be a wire cage with a six-foot American Alligator inside. After taking some pictures, the repairman made a call to animal control officers.
Price got the alligator from a swap meet in Kankakee, Illinois, when it was a baby. He is currently charged with misdemeanor unlawful possession of an endangered species.
The American Alligator is native to the southeastern U.S. and is considered an endangered species. It is illegal in Illinois for someone to own one unless the owner has a special permit for educational purposes, rehabilitation, or something similar.
Another strange alligator incident happened near Belle Vernon, Pennsylvania. In April 2015, police were investigating two different alligator sightings in the Monongahela River.
Local police, the Coast Guard, and officials with the Pittsburgh Zoo began looking for a six-foot long alligator after two different witnesses reported the creature swimming in the river. While an exhaustive search was conducted, the reptile was never found, and no new sightings have since been reported.
Typically, when an American Alligator is found in the northern United States, it is usually associated with irresponsible owners allowing the reptile to escape. Yet, this wasn’t the case in another alligator sighting in New York.
In May 2015, a six-foot American Alligator showed up at the Suffolk County SPCA. “Rocky” the alligator was turned over by Andre Ricaud, who said the animal had grown too big for him to handle.
Ricaud, owner of Party Pets of New York, used Rocky to educate children about exotic animals. He has a license to legally possess alligators as well as other rare creatures.
Ricaud got Rocky when the gator was just a foot long over 17 years ago. However, Rocky just kept growing.
“I just felt it was time for him to go,” Ricaud said. “American alligators do not make good pets.”
Unequipped to handle an alligator, the SPCA gave Rocky to Michael Ralbovsky of the Rainforest Reptile Sanctuary in Massachusetts.
Just like Illinois, it is illegal to own an American Alligator in New York state without a permit. People found possessing one without a license are charged with a misdemeanor and fined.
Apparently American Alligators like to shop at Walmart as well.
Scientists believe the American Alligator is more than 150-million-years-old, even managing to survive the mass extinction 65 million years ago of other relatives like the dinosaurs.
The species lives almost entirely in freshwater rivers, lakes, swamps, and marshes around Florida, Mississippi, and Louisiana. In the wild, a full grown male will typically range between 10 and 15 feet in length and weigh 1,000 pounds. Females are slightly smaller, usually only reaching about 9.8 feet in length.
Experts consider alligators opportune hunters, meaning they will eat just about anything, including pets and very rarely, a human. However, they prefer fish, turtles, snakes, and small mammals.
The animal has very short legs and an “armored” body with a muscular flat tail used for swimming. An adult’s tough, outer skin is an olive brown or black color with a creamy white underbelly. A young alligator is easily distinguished by yellow stripes on their tails.
Although still on the endangered species list, the number of American Alligators has been on the rise in recent years. State and federal protections, habitat preservation efforts, and a reduced demand for alligator products have helped the population grow to more than one million.
[Photo by AP Photo/M. Spencer Green]
