A 23-year-old man fished out an alligator that was swimming along the boats at The Wharf Marina in Southwest D.C.
Imagine Phoenix Norwood’s surprise when he heard there was a four-foot alligator swimming among the boats at The Wharf Marina in Southwest D.C.
CLICK TO ENLARGE: A 23-year-old man fished out an alligator that was swimming along the boats at The Wharf Marina in Southwest D.C. (Courtesy Phoenix Norwood)
“At first I heard about it … then I started looking for it, and I actually saw it twice,” Norwood told WTOP.
The 23-year-old resident of The Wharf thought the gator was fake at first.
Then, it started swimming. That’s when he grabbed a dip net and fished it out Thursday.
“If I had just let it be on its own, it would have probably swam away again, and authorities were about like 10, 15 minutes away at the time,” Norwood said. “I had to get it at that point in time. I probably should have had shoes on, though.”
Norwood is a reptile enthusiast and an avid fossil collector.
“I got some crocodile teeth and all that stuff, but I don’t really have experience with live gators,” Norwood said. “This is definitely a first for me.”
Norwood held the reptile until officials with D.C. animal control arrived to secure it. They will work with a group to relocate the animal to a more appropriate environment.
Hopefully, far away.
Where did it come from? There’s plenty of speculation, but authorities guess it was someone’s pet that was released into the Washington Channel recently.
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A missing 12-year-old boy with autism likely died following an alligator attack, police said Wednesday. A nearly two-week-long search resulted in his body being found in a New Orleans canal this week.
Bryan Vasquez was first reported missing on the morning of Aug. 14, after he reportedly escaped through a bedroom window on the East side of the city, the New Orleans Police Department said. Vasquez, who is nonverbal, was seen on doorbell camera footage wearing only a diaper and walking down the street alone, around 5:20 a.m. local time that morning. His body was found on Tuesday, located by a drone.
A police department spokesperson confirmed to CBS News in an email Wednesday that the Orleans Parish Coroner determined Bryan’s cause of death “was drowning with blunt trauma consistent with an alligator attack.”
As a result, the case has now transitioned from a missing juvenile investigation to an unclassified death investigation led by the police department’s homicide division, the spokesperson said.
“Detectives are actively pursuing every lead and reviewing all circumstances surrounding Bryan’s death,” the spokesperson said. “At this time, no individual has been charged or identified as a suspect. The investigation remains open and active, and updates will be shared as they are confirmed.”
Neighbors and friends of the Vasquez family searched Village De L’East in New Orleans, on Aug. 17, 2025, for Bryan Vasquez, age 12.
John McCusker / AP
The boy’s mother, Hilda Vasquez, had told The New Orleans Advocate/The Times-Picayune that her son would often sneak away from their home to head to a playground nearby. However, they’d recently moved to a new house.
Bryan’s disappearance prompted a massive search that included multiple agencies, volunteers, airboats and bloodhounds.
As local and state crews combed the area, criticism mounted over the New Orleans Police Department’s delayed response. Police Chief Anne Kirkpatrick said that there was a nearly five-hour gap between when the boy was reported missing and an officer arriving at the scene. The boy was found about 200 yards from where the search had started. Kirkpatrick said it is possible his body resurfaced after he died, which is common in drowning deaths.
In a separate news release, city officials described Bryan as “a bright, charismatic, and energetic young boy whose joy and spirit touched the lives of his family, friends and community.”
Kirkpatrick said she has asked the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries to remove “nuisance” alligators from the area where Bryan was found.
According to the wildlife agency, hunters capture and remove more than 1,000 nuisance alligators every year in an effort to minimize encounters between the alligators and humans. Louisiana is home to the largest alligator population in the country.
A federal judge says the Trump administration must halt construction, stop bringing new detainees, and begin winding down operations at the mass detention center in the Big Cypress National Preserve known as Alligator Alcatraz.
“This is a landmark victory for the Everglades and countless Americans who believe this imperiled wilderness should be protected, not exploited,” said Eve Samples, executive director of Friends of the Everglades. “It sends a clear message that environmental laws must be respected by leaders at the highest levels of our government — and there are consequences for ignoring them.”
U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams issued a temporary restraining order on Aug, 7, which put a stop to new construction and any additional infrastructure at Alligator Alcatraz for two weeks.
Late in the evening on Aug. 21 she doubled-down on the restraining order, saying the state and federal government should pack everything up at Alligator Alcatraz and prepare to shut down the facility.
This preliminary injunction will last until the trial is complete.
The ruling stems from a June 27 lawsuit filed by Friends of the Everglades, the Center for Biological Diversity, and joined by the Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida.
“This ruling affirms what we argued in court — that the government can’t just build something in the middle of the Everglades and the Big Cypress preserve with no environmental review, and no public input,” said Tania Galloni, managing attorney for the Florida office of Earthjustice. “This is why we have environmental laws — to protect the wetlands and ecosystems we all depend on from illegal development.”
Others said the detainment facility is a clear violation of major federal laws put in place to protect wildernesses like the Big Cypress and Everglades National Park.
“The state and federal government paved over 20 acres of open land, built a parking lot for 1,200 cars and 3,000 detainees, placed miles of fencing and high-intensity lighting on site and moved thousands of detainees and contractors onto land in the heart of the Big Cypress National Preserve, all in flagrant violation of environmental law,” said Paul Schwiep, counsel for Friends of the Everglades and the Center for Biological Diversity.
Protestors gather at the entrance of the Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport on Tuesday, July 1, 2025. It is being transformed into a detention center that is known as “Alligator Alcatraz”.
Alligator Alcatraz sprang to existence early this year, after Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier announced on social media that a detention facility would be constructed at the old jetport in rural eastern Collier County.
That facility has been managed and maintained by Miami-Dade County for decades but was taken over by the state when Gov. Ron DeSantis declared a state of emergency, which allowed the construction of the center to bypass staff review, public comment and permitting.
A campground is lit up at night with the Milky Way overhead. The photo was taken near Skillet Strand in the Big Cypress National Preserve, a 730,000-acre conservation property where Alligator Alcatraz is being built.
Typically a facility proposed within the boundaries of a National Park Service preserve must go through extensive federal review, a process that can take years.
Alligator Alcatraz was up and running in a matter of days, by July 2.
The defendants in the case include the Florida Division of Emergency Management, the Department of Homeland Security, ICE and Miami-Dade County.
In another case focusing on plaintiffs legal and civil rights, U.S. District Judge Rodolfo Ruiz ruled Aug. 18 the matter should move to a different court while also declaring part of the lawsuit moot.
At the heart of the case was whether the government had violated detainees’ rights to due process and legal counsel. Civil rights attorneys had said the remote Everglades facility made it nearly impossible for immigrants to speak confidentially with lawyers or even find out which immigration court can hear their cases. The plaintiffs’ attorneys filed suit in the Southern District of Florida, which includes Miami-Dade County, though state and federal officials argued that it should have been filed in the Middle District of Florida, which includes Collier County.
In his 47-page order, Ruiz agreed, transferring the case to the middle district. He also dismissed the immigration-court allegations in the lawsuit, saying they were moot after a federal decision that judges at Krome North Processing Service Center would handle the detainees’ cases.
The case now heads to “a sister court in the Middle District of Florida to reach the merits of plaintiffs’ remaining claims under the First Amendment,” Ruiz wrote.
You never know what’s lurking in the floodwaters after a hurricane.Officials in Louisiana’s St. Tammany Parish posted a photo on Facebook on Thursday, showing an alligator swimming in the floodwaters.Related video above: Drone video shows flooding caused by Hurricane Francine“We’re not sure what his mission was, but our Public Works crews decided to keep their distance as they checked flooded roads,” officials said in the Facebook post. “If you see a flooded road, keep your distance, too! You may never know what hazards lurk beneath the water.”Hurricane Francine made landfall in Terrebonne Parish Wednesday, bringing heavy rain and major flooding.
You never know what’s lurking in the floodwaters after a hurricane.
Officials in Louisiana’s St. Tammany Parish posted a photo on Facebook on Thursday, showing an alligator swimming in the floodwaters.
Related video above: Drone video shows flooding caused by Hurricane Francine
“We’re not sure what his mission was, but our Public Works crews decided to keep their distance as they checked flooded roads,” officials said in the Facebook post. “If you see a flooded road, keep your distance, too! You may never know what hazards lurk beneath the water.”
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Hurricane Francine made landfall in Terrebonne Parish Wednesday, bringing heavy rain and major flooding.
STOCKTON — A 34-year-old man was arrested in Stockton after a residence search warrant allegedly resulted in weapons and small alligators being found, police said Friday.
Stockton police arrested Darell Kho, 34, during a warrant search Sept., 6, 2024.
Stockton Police Department
Police said they executed the search warrant at a residence in the 300 block of Paragon Avenue.
Officers allegedly located three handguns, five rifles, various calibers of ammunition and two small alligators.
The animals were taken into custody and Darell Kho was detained, police said.
Stockton police seized handguns, rifles, ammunition and California Fish and Wildlife recovered two small alligators during a warrant search in Stockton Sept., 6, 2024. (Stockton Police Dept via Bay City News)
An alligator attack left a Florida man amputated, missing his arm from the elbow down, officials said. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission said they were called just before 2 a.m. Sunday about a gator attack at Lake Monroe.Lauren Claerbout with FWC said attacks like this are uncommon.“Alligators are naturally very wary of people, they’re not really looking to harm us in most cases… A lot of cases with alligator bites, a lot of times it’s a case of mistaken identity,” Claerbout said.Claerbout said gators don’t usually go after people unless they mistake them for food, especially if they’ve been fed by humans in the past.“When they’re fed, alligators lose their natural weariness of people and instead they learn to associate people with the availability of food,” she said.Those walking near Lake Monroe on Tuesday said they’ve seen many gators in the lake, but have never had any issues.“I mean it’s just one of those things you got to look out for living in Florida. They’re all over the place,” someone passing by said.With an estimated 1.3 million gators in Florida, Claerbout advises to only swim in designated areas and in daylight hours, since gators are more active at night.If a gator attacks, she said to fight back.“We hear all the time that the eyes are a sensitive area so poking the alligator in the eyes might release its bite,” Claerbout said.
SEMINOLE COUNTY, Fla. —
An alligator attack left a Florida man amputated, missing his arm from the elbow down, officials said.
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission said they were called just before 2 a.m. Sunday about a gator attack at Lake Monroe.
Lauren Claerbout with FWC said attacks like this are uncommon.
“Alligators are naturally very wary of people, they’re not really looking to harm us in most cases… A lot of cases with alligator bites, a lot of times it’s a case of mistaken identity,” Claerbout said.
Claerbout said gators don’t usually go after people unless they mistake them for food, especially if they’ve been fed by humans in the past.
“When they’re fed, alligators lose their natural weariness of people and instead they learn to associate people with the availability of food,” she said.
Those walking near Lake Monroe on Tuesday said they’ve seen many gators in the lake, but have never had any issues.
“I mean it’s just one of those things you got to look out for living in Florida. They’re all over the place,” someone passing by said.
With an estimated 1.3 million gators in Florida, Claerbout advises to only swim in designated areas and in daylight hours, since gators are more active at night.
If a gator attacks, she said to fight back.
“We hear all the time that the eyes are a sensitive area so poking the alligator in the eyes might release its bite,” Claerbout said.
The alligator turned angry and broke free of a catch pole used to pull it out from under the car, video shows. It happened on James Island, South Carolina.
Video screengrab
A South Carolina man says he woke up to find an alligator hiding under his car, and video shows the beast did not want to leave.
Faulk says neighbors alerted him to the alligator, including a Charleston public works employee who saw “it cross the road into our parking lot, and go under my car.”
This happened after the alligator tried and failed to climb a fence, he posted.
Animal control officers eventually pulled it out from under the car — head first, video shows.
It remained obstinate, even using the notorious alligator “death roll” as it was being dragged through the parking lot to a truck, video shows.
“He was getting pretty scuffed up. He got a little bloody, you know, they got to tire them out before they can actually get them into the truck bed,” Faulk told WCSC. “So when they thrash around a lot, they use up a lot of energy and it tires them out.”
Alligators are native to James Island, which is about a 120-mile drive southeast from Columbia.
Alligator mating season is May through June and males are known to wander into unfamiliar turf in search of females, the state reports. Males can reach 14 feet in length and 1,000 pounds, experts say.
Mark Price is a National Reporter for McClatchy News. He joined the network of newspapers in 1991 at The Charlotte Observer, covering beats including schools, crime, immigration, LGBTQ issues, homelessness and nonprofits. He graduated from the University of Memphis with majors in journalism and art history, and a minor in geology.
MEDFORD, Minn. — Claws, scales, teeth and tails: There’s a place in Medford where alligators and snakes have taken over.
It’s feeding time for Sally and Allie. And with every bite of chicken comes a fast fact about alligators.
“She would bite harder than a grizzly bear,” said Jamie Pastika, while feeding Allie the alligator.
The alligators are just a couple of the creatures that get your attention at the Reptile and Amphibian Discovery Zoo — also known as RAD.
Pastika is the man behind it all. He was born in northern Minnesota but mostly grew up in Florida and became a zookeeper at Animal Kingdom.
Then, one day, he and his family decided to leave the swamps for the land of 10,000 lakes. And they brought along a few of their friends.
“The scaly and slimy are our primary focus here. I had gone to Reptile Gardens when I was 6 years old. I thought that was the coolest place on Earth. So, I just built my own,” said Pastika.
From poisonous dart frogs to a green anaconda, nearly 300 creatures of various shapes and sizes live here. No two are the same, but many have something in common.
“Over half of our animals at the zoo here are rescues. So, we started taking on more and more animals. Once we got a facility, we started getting more and more calls,” Pastika said.
That includes a call to take Justin Bieber’s former pet boa constrictor. Pastika thought it was a prank at first, but it turned out to be very real.
“One day in December I got a box with a very chilly boa constrictor. I was like, oh wow,” Pastika said.
A big part of what they do here is conservation and education. While these animals take field trips to schools, oftentimes the students visit them.
“I was like wow, it’s so cool right here,” said Sawyer Moger, who is in first grade.
Another first-grader, Presley Eide, says the crocodiles are her favorite animal at the zoo.
“Just to see the look on the kids’ faces when they get to see an animal they’ve seen on videos or YouTube and they get to just hold one. It’s kind of a cool thing to watch,” Pastika said.
Pastika and his family hope visitors leave with a new appreciation for reptiles and amphibians. Because for them, workdays are always a snap.
“When your dog doesn’t want to go to the vet, that’s one thing. When your 500-pound alligator doesn’t want to go to the vet, it’s rodeo day,” said Pastika.
The RAD Zoo is located in the Medford Outlet Mall and it’s open seven days a week. Pastika’s family also runs a YouTube page where they educate people about their animals.
John Lauritsen is an Emmy award-winning reporter from Montevideo, Minn. He joined WCCO-TV in late-July of 2007. Two days after he started, the Interstate 35W bridge collapsed.
Alligators are affectionately known as “swamp puppies” in Florida, so it makes sense a deputy would be recorded scolding one like a naughty dog after it plopped down in the middle of a road.
The humorous encounter began around 12:20 a.m. Wednesday, May 15, when Master Corporal Donald Metcalf of the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office found a 9-foot alligator on College Avenue in Ruskin.
It wasn’t crossing the road, the video shows. It was just sitting there across the travel lanes, like a speed bump. Ruskin is about a 25-mile drive south from downtown Tampa.
“You just taking a nap?” Metcalf asks, as he walks up to the alligator. “Oh, hi, big boy.”
This 9-foot alligator was captured Wednesday, May 15, while sitting in a road in Ruskin, Florida. The deputy involved is heard talking to the alligator like it was a puppy.
The video then cuts to the deputy herding the alligator out of traffic, using just a flashlight.
At first, the gator cooperates, but then plops down in a driveway, growls and bares it teeth at the deputy.
“Come on. Keep going. Don’t be nasty,” the deputy says. “We were … friends.”
The sweet talk ultimately failed.
An hour later, Metcalf was still there, watching three deputies and a professional wildlife trapper engage in a tug-of-war with the hissing alligator.
The tussle ended just before 2 a.m., with the gator bound and being carried to the bed of a pickup truck, the video shows.
It was relocated to a safer spot, which are plentiful with Florida’s numerous rivers, lakes and drainage ponds.
The incident was handled without traffic being blocked, the sheriff’s office said.
As for why the alligator was in the road, May and June are mating season, when the reptiles wander in search of mates, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission says.
Mark Price is a National Reporter for McClatchy News. He joined the network of newspapers in 1991 at The Charlotte Observer, covering beats including schools, crime, immigration, LGBTQ issues, homelessness and nonprofits. He graduated from the University of Memphis with majors in journalism and art history, and a minor in geology.
TO BUILD MORE UNIVERSITY HOUSING. WELL, IT IS NOT EVERY DAY YOU SEE THIS AN ALLIGATOR MEASURING NEARLY EIGHT FEET LONG, STROLLING BEHIND A SHOPPING CENTER IN WEST PALM BEACH. THE 120 POUND REPTILE WAS SPOTTED AROUND NOON TODAY ALONG BELVEDERE ROAD. WILDLIFE OFFICERS WERE ABLE TO WRANGLE THAT GATOR AFTER BUSINESSES CALLED IT IN. TRAPPERS WITH FLORIDA FISH AND WILDLIFE G
WATCH: Florida police ‘apprehend’ a feisty alligator
Updated: 1:30 AM EDT Apr 9, 2024
The West Palm Beach Police Department got called to a shopping center for a call of an alligator on the prowl.“Here, hold this for a minute.”That’s what Officer Danielle Goldberger was told by Officer Marcin Trawinski, from Florida Fish and Wildlife, when he went to get the tape to wrap up a 7-foot-9-inch-long male alligator’s snout.The feisty 120-pound-plus reptile was wrangled by Trawinski, with a hand from Goldberger. The FWC trappers came out and carted the gator away.
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. —
The West Palm Beach Police Department got called to a shopping center for a call of an alligator on the prowl.
“Here, hold this for a minute.”
That’s what Officer Danielle Goldberger was told by Officer Marcin Trawinski, from Florida Fish and Wildlife, when he went to get the tape to wrap up a 7-foot-9-inch-long male alligator’s snout.
The feisty 120-pound-plus reptile was wrangled by Trawinski, with a hand from Goldberger. The FWC trappers came out and carted the gator away.
HAMBURG, N.Y. — A New York man is battling to get his alligator back after conservation officers confiscated the reptile, which he claims is harmless and has been a part of his family for over 30 years. Tony Cavallaro faced officers at his Buffalo suburb residence last week, who came with a warrant to take his alligator named Albert, a 12-foot (3.6-meter), 750-pound (340-kilogram) creature. They sedated Albert, secured his mouth, and transported him in a van.
The Department of Environmental Conservation cited the expiration of Cavallaro’s license to keep Albert in 2021. Furthermore, Cavallaro’s interactions with the alligator, including allowing others to touch and swim with Albert, violated regulations regarding the ownership of animals deemed dangerous.
Screenshot from Instagram / cavallaro966
Cavallaro, 64, disagrees with this characterization. He insists that Albert, who has been raised in captivity since he was two months old and bought at an Ohio reptile show, has never been aggressive towards humans or pets. He reminisced about times when Albert and his dog would snuggle together.
Describing Albert as an “emotional support animal,” Cavallaro has invested $120,000 in a home extension tailored to the alligator’s needs, featuring a heated pond, tropical plants, and a bar. Since the seizure, he finds the space devoid of its main attraction.
Cavallaro’s fight to reclaim Albert has garnered widespread support, evidenced by a petition with over 120,000 signatures and social media campaigns. A friend even composed a song titled “Oh Albert, please come home” to support the cause.
Despite his personal bond with Albert, Cavallaro admits to letting visitors interact closely with the alligator, emphasizing Albert’s gentle nature, even with his elderly mother.
The issue arose from a failure to renew his license after changes in the laws governing the possession of dangerous animals in 2020. Cavallaro attempted to renew his license but found the regulations unclear and believes his previous compliance should be grandfathered in.
Cavallaro’s passion for reptiles is long-standing, with a history of owning various species. He refutes claims by the DEC about Albert’s health problems, asserting the alligator’s well-being and disputing any vision or spinal issues.
The DEC has placed Albert with a licensed caretaker temporarily, not disclosing the location, while plans for his permanent care are made. The case highlights the complexities of owning exotic pets in the U.S., where abandoned alligators in public spaces occasionally surface, raising concerns about their welfare and public safety.
This alligator in Georgia had researchers looking for explanations after they realized it had mysterious jaw appendage — with teeth.
UGA Coastal Ecology Lab photo
A 7-foot alligator caught in southeast Georgia has researchers looking for explanations after discovering it had a mysterious jaw appendage — with teeth.
Alligators are prone to deformities due to their violent lifestyle, but this is something new, the University’s of Georgia’s Coastal Ecology Lab wrote in a Feb. 19 Facebook post.
“We see a variety of injuries in the alligators that we catch in the Okefenokee Swamp, from missing limbs and eyes to a tooth that pokes through the upper jaw, but we have never seen an injury quite like the one,” lab officials said in the post.
It’s suspected the alligator was born with a normal jaw that was broken and never realigned after healing, officials say. UGA Coastal Ecology Lab photo
“Her lower jaw appeared to protrude out from under her upper jaw on the left side of her face. … The part of her jaw that is sticking out has teeth in it still.”
It’s suspected the alligator was born with a normal jaw that snapped in two — perhaps while battling a much larger alligator, lab officials say.
The alligator survived and her jaw healed, but never realigned. The alligator likely suffered during the healing process, but continued to hunt and eat, experts say.
“The section where those teeth should be in her jaw has been filled back in with bone and was very solid,” the lab reports.
“This unique injury does not appear to affect her ability to eat as her body and tail girth were comparable to other alligators of similar size. This is just another example of how resilient the American alligator is.”
Alligators are known to fight to the death over turf, mates and protecting their young. The species is also not above cannibalism, studies show.
Okefenokee Swamp is in Georgia’s southeast corner, about 45 miles northwest of Jacksonville.
The Coastal Ecology Lab is studying alligators in and around the area, including a program that tracks their movements, nesting habits and lineage.
Mark Price is a National Reporter for McClatchy News. He joined the network of newspapers in 1991 at The Charlotte Observer, covering beats including schools, crime, immigration, LGBTQ issues, homelessness and nonprofits. He graduated from the University of Memphis with majors in journalism and art history, and a minor in geology.
Today, I’m featuring another recently converted digital file (from a 35mm slide). This large alligator was laying low, behind some vegetation in the Florida swamps:
This image was captured pre-2004, when I was still shooting 35mm slides, captured during one of my Florida photography trips. I recently began converting some of those slides to digital files. It will take some time to convert my many slides to digital, but I will be featuring some of my fond memories of early nature photography with you, as I get them converted.
Two people were injured by alligators in separate incidents within the same week at a recreation center in Florida.
On Nov. 1 the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission responded to reports of a 79-year-old man who received minor injuries to his hand and head following an encounter with an alligator while snorkeling at Alexander Springs in Lake County, the agency said in a statement.
The man was taken to a local hospital for treatment and a Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission officer and an alligator trapper responded to the scene, officials said.
Then days later, on Nov. 5, officials responded to another incident, this time regarding a 20-year-old woman who was bitten by an alligator also while snorkeling at Alexander Springs in Lake County, according to officials.
The woman was taken to a local hospital where she received treatment for minor injuries, officials said.
A Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission officer and an alligator trapper removed a 9-foot male alligator from the water, according to officials.
A photographer happened to be at the scene and captured snapshots of the aftermath of the incident.
Fox 35 Orlando posted the images, which show the young woman with a bleeding forehead grabbing her snorkeling gear. In one of the more stunning images the alligator appears to be lurking behind the unsuspecting pair.
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission said that alligators seldom bite people and deaths from alligator bites are even more rare. From 1948 to 2022, 453 unprovoked bite incidents occurred in Florida, with 26 of those bites resulting in human fatalities, the agency said.
“The likelihood of a Florida resident being seriously injured during an unprovoked alligator incident in Florida is roughly only one in 3.1 million,” the agency said.
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San Bernardino police were recently investigating a squatters case at a residence when they made a surprising discovery inside: two baby alligators.
The alligators, which were apparently being kept as pets, were discovered at a home on Santa Fe Street late last month, according to police and local media reports.
The reptiles were initially taken to the city’s animal shelter but, with the assistance of California Fish and Wildlife, they have since been relocated to the Forever Wild Exotic Animal Sanctuary in Phelan, officials said.
“They weren’t kept in the best of conditions, but they’re doing OK,” said Kiah Almquist, the sanctuary’s manager and daughter of founder Joel Almquist. The animals each measured 12 to 24 inches long and were covered in white paint, Almquist said. Keepers are still working to remove the white paint from the animals, heal their dry skin, and put the alligators on a balanced diet of raw meat and “pinkies” — previously frozen baby mice often fed to reptiles.
Loki and Sylvie, named after characters on the Disney+ show “Loki,” are being held in a quarantine environment while the sanctuary raises money to build them a more permanent home. It will likely be years before the babies are big enough to be introduced into the sanctuary’s main pond, which is inhabited by eight adult alligators that each measure about 8 feet long.
Exotic animals like alligators are not allowed to be kept as pets in most cities, including San Bernardino. Nonetheless, it is not unusual for people to keep a wide range of animals in and around their homes.
Almquist said she routinely receives calls asking the sanctuary to accept animals that include alligators, snapping turtles, ferrets and sugar gliders — though the sanctuary is also home to tigers, bears and hyenas. The sanctuary is left to piece together the clues of what happened to the animals, like why the baby alligators arrived with white paint all over them. A Capuchin monkey once arrived who had been fed nothing but candy.
“The sad part is that if [the government] can’t find a place to bring these animals, they have to be euthanized,” she said. And although a baby alligator might seem like an appealing companion, it can become quite dangerous as it grows older and larger.
“When they’re babies, they’re cute. No one thinks anything will happen to them — a bite will be like a little pinch. But when they’re older they do something called a death roll,” in which the alligator bites their prey and then spins around quickly in the water to remove a chunk of meat. “They don’t care that you take care of them. They’re a reptile and they’re going to eat what’s in front of them.”
Owners often release the alligators into lakes and rivers as they get larger, Almquist said, where they out-compete the native species or just pass away. In March, the sanctuary rescued two alligators that had been dumped into a river in Temecula.
As for Loki and Sylvie, Almquist said everyone at the sanctuary is “super excited about them right now.” She invites members of the public to visit the juvenile alligators along with the sanctuary’s more than 200 other animals. The sanctuary charges an admission and the money goes towards the care of the animals, she said.
A body which was spotted in the jaws of a 13-foot alligator in Largo, Florida, has been identified as a 41-year-old woman, authorities said Saturday.
The Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office reports that the situation unfolded a little before 2 p.m. local time Friday, when deputies were called to an unincorporated part of Largo — located in the Tampa Bay area — after the body of the victim, later identified as Sabrina Peckham, was spotted in a waterway.
Neighbor JaMarcus Bullard told CBS affiliate WTSP that he discovered the victim in the jaws of an alligator and called 911.
“It (the alligator) lifted up out of the water with the body, like it was just clamped onto it, and it like swam backwards, like, under to the bottom of the canal to the other side,” Bullard said.
“I just couldn’t believe it was real,” he added.
Deputies and Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission officers responded and “humanely killed” the alligator, the sheriff’s office said.
A dive team then recovered Peckham’s remains from the canal.
No further details on the circumstances leading up to the discovery were released. The Pinellas County medical examiner is still working to determine the manner and cause of her death, the sheriff’s office said, and the investigation into the case ongoing.
In March, in nearby St. Petersburg, a missing 2-year-old boy was found dead in the mouth of an alligator, two days after the boy’s mother was found murdered in their family’s apartment.
The boy’s father was later charged with two counts of murder in their deaths.
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An alligator at a Florida zoo was “behaving strangely” and exhibiting abnormal symptoms — but experts at the University of Florida College of Veterinary Medicine found a surprisingly simple reason why.
Brooke, a 376-pound gator from St. Augustine Alligator Farm Zoological Park, was exhibiting a series of symptoms, including intermittent head-rolling in his lagoon, according to a statement by the University of Florida College of Veterinary Medicine. The alligator was brought to the hospital on July 25 for a “thorough workup to evaluate the possible cause of unusual behavior.”
The experts there used all the diagnostic tools at their disposal, including a blood draw, lung X-rays, and CT scans of Brooke’s head. The hospital noted that clinicians had to use both X-rays and CT scans because “Brooke was too large to perform a complete CT scan of his body.”
Dr. Bridget Walker, a UF zoological medicine resident, performs a blood draw on Brooke. This position minimizes risk to humans and is not painful to alligators, according to the zoo.
University of Florida College of Veterinary Medicine
With all that information at their fingertips, the team soon made a diagnosis: Brooke had an ear infection.
Ear infections are caused by air in sensitive parts of the ear, and can be caused by viruses or bacteria, according to the Mayo Clinic. The college did not say what caused Brooke’s infection.
The alligator was sent back to the zoo later in the day on July 25. On July 28, the zoo posted about Brooke’s condition on Facebook and answered a few common questions, like where an alligator’s ears are. (Turns out, alligator ears are directly behind their eyes. They can close their ears tightly to prevent water getting in.)
Brooke received a CT scan as part of his diagnosis.
University of Florida College of Veterinary Medicine
The zoo also said that Brooke would receive medicine “without any stress or worry.”
“We train with our animals frequently, and Brooke has years of experience coming to his name, accepting food (sometimes with medicine), and holding still,” the zoo wrote.
A female alligator who made national headlines after being discovered in a lake in Brooklyn’s Prospect Park in February has died.
Godzilla, as rescuers named her, had been receiving veterinary treatment at the Bronx Zoo for a myriad of issues. The alligator had been “lethargic” and “extremely emaciated” when she was found in the New York park on a day when temperatures were in the 30s ― far too cold for an alligator.
Veterinarians also later found a rubber bathtub stopper in the reptile’s stomach, suggesting she had been previously kept as a pet in a bathtub and subsequently released into the park.
“A necropsy revealed chronic and severe weight loss, extreme anemia, and infections in her intestine and skin,” the zoo said Friday in a statement announcing the alligator’s death. “She also had a chronic ulcer of her stomach caused by the rubber stopper. Despite the intensive care, the alligator was so emaciated, debilitated, and anemic, her immune system was not as strong as it needed to be, and she succumbed to those infections.”
The 4-foot-long alligator had been spotted at the lake by park maintenance workers on Feb. 19, Gothamist reported at the time. Park patrol and rangers rescued the animal from the frigid lake and transported her to an Animal Care Centers of NYC shelter before she was transferred to the Bronx Zoo.
Shortly after the alligator’s capture, NYC parks spokesperson Dan Kastanis urged people not to abandon pets of any kind in the park.
“Parks are not suitable homes for animals not indigenous to those parks ― domesticated or otherwise,” he said in a statement.
