Florida has become the new home for a newborn alligator that was discovered abandoned inside a plastic storage container in a parking lot in New Jersey.
On January 15, a youngster reported seeing a storage container in the center of a parking lot in Neptune Township, New Jersey. This led to the discovery of the alligator that night. Later, the boy and the alligator’s owner were found by police to have staged the abandonment.
The owner allegedly first bought the creature at a reptile show in Pennsylvania, according to the police. After his “parents refused to let him keep the 3-foot-long reptile,” the teenager devised a plan to get rid of the alligator, according to a Facebook post from the Monmouth County Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. He reportedly dialed 911 while posing as a good Samaritan.
The owner is accused of keeping an illegal and dangerous exotic species as a pet by the New Jersey Department of Fish and Wildlife. The teen is accused of fabricating a police report, along with his parents, according to the SPCA.
The alligator was given to the Cape May County Park & Zoo by the SPCA, where it will be cared for until Kevin Wilson, the reptile department’s overseeing animal keeper, can take it to Tampa, Florida.
Wilson claimed that inquiries about donating pet reptiles are frequently made by phone to the zoo. Alligators cannot be rehomed locally, unlike some other animals.
In New Jersey, it is against the law to keep alligators as pets, and if they are taken by the police, the majority of them are put to death, according to Wilson, who wrote to WFLA.com. “I looked for alternatives because I didn’t think killing them was right.”
The Tampa-based sanctuary and educational facility Croc Encounters, which frequently travels to the northeast to collect stray crocodilians, was recommended to Wilson by a number of reptile experts more than 15 years ago. Alligators have since been delivered to Tampa by the zoo.
Each year, I take them on my own time to Croc Encounters because we keep them in quarantine separate from the zoo collection, according to Wilson.
According to the staff at Croc Encounters, the facility has housed hundreds of animals over the past 18 years. Prior to being released back into the sanctuary to live out their days, some smaller alligators are lent to zoos.
According to Croc Encounters’ Karina Sura Paner, “our mission is to provide a safe haven for unwanted reptiles and to serve as an educational facility.”
Wilson expressed his gratitude for the zoo’s 15-year collaboration with the sanctuary, which has given many animals a second chance at life after escaping the illegal pet trade.
According to Wilson, “Croc Encounters has given a second chance to more than 75 alligators over the years that may not have occurred otherwise.”
He stated Since the transportation is still being planned, it might take some time before the saved alligator gets to Florida.
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