A housing code enforcement official in North Carolina was looking for structural issues or other procedural violations earlier this week. He didn’t find any of that. But he did stumble upon an 8-foot alligator that had apparently taken up residence in the attic of a New Hanover County home.
Dean Brown initially thought he was looking at a fake, stuffed, or decorative gator of some sort when he saw the reptile in the low light conditions of the attic. “He didn’t really move at first. He was kind of asleep, I guess. But once I shined my flashlight on his head, his eyes started to open, and he gave me a wink and let me know, ‘I’m alive,” WSMV 4 News shared the story first.
Brown took a few quick pics and then backed away from the reptile. He then let a co-worker know what was going on and that he probably wasn’t going to finish his inspection. It’s believed that the gator snuck in through a backdoor that was left ajar.
“Nobody would believe me. I made phone calls. I told people around me, but nobody would believe me. One person did get around to going and looking. When he realized I was not joking, he was able to communicate with the rest of the workers on site to leave.”
Animal control arrived quickly on the scene and removed the gator. Though Brown said he’s encountered gators on the job before, he’s never seen one indoors. “Since then, I’ve been very cautious and peek in and look around. It was an experience that I’ll never forget.”
Texas Woman Fined For Illegally Keeping Alligator In Her Backyard
A 7-foot-long American alligator was recently discovered cooped up in a Texas woman’s fenced-in backyard. Texas Parks and Wildlife discovered the reptile while investigating another case in Buda, Texas, just south of Austin. The woman was keeping it as a pet but did not have the proper permits to keep the alligator. She claims to have had the gator for more than two decades.
Texas law allows people to keep alligators if they are farming, educating, or using them for zoological reasons. People can’t have gators as pets. The woman told the authorities she was volunteering at the Animal World & Snake Farm Zoo in New Braunfels, Texas, and she stole an alligator egg.
“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,” said Jarrod Forthman with the Animal World & Snake Farm. The gator is now back at the same farm the egg got stolen from.“You know, my heart goes out to her, but we’re going to give her gator a good home,” he said.
The woman will pay $1,000 for illegally having the alligator. Charges for stealing the egg are past the statute of limitations. She said she plans to visit the alligator here at the farm it’s now at.
