This pet would have had no qualms about biting the hand — and body — that feeds it!
Wildlife officials hauled a 6-foot alligator out of a Medford, Long Island, home Sunday following a tip that a man was keeping the massive reptile in his back yard.
It took two trained workers from the Suffolk County SPCA to wrestle the scaly beast into a crate that was taken to an out-of-state wildlife sanctuary, according to officials.
“It was difficult to remove it,” admitted Roy Gross, chief of the Suffolk County SPCA.
“It is the largest alligator that I could remember that was ever kept illegally in Suffolk County,” he added.
And that’s no small thing — since Long Island is notorious as an epicenter for gator owners.
Gross said the alligator appeared healthy and even had two different hangouts at the home, including a fenced-in area outside and a heated shed. Gross refused to name the owner.
Since the gator was unharmed, the SPCA didn’t charge the owner with cruelty, but he did receive a violation from the Department of Environmental Conservation, since keeping gators as pets is illegal in the state.
“People should not have these, they do not make good pets,” Gross said. “They will bite the hand that feeds them. They’re hunters and that’s what they do. They’re not going to warm up to somebody like another animal would.”
“And at that size, it could be deadly,” he added.
Gross noted that people who have illegal reptiles will not be charged if they turn themselves in, but could face a series of charges if officials track them down.