AP New York
NY
Updated Friday, March 15, 2024-9:30 p.m.
A sick alligator was confiscated
from an upstate New York home
where it was being kept illegally, state officials said.
Environmental Conservation Police officers confiscated the
340-kilogram, 3.4-meter-long
alligator on Wednesday at a home in Hamburg, south of Buffalo.
The homeowner built an addition and installed an in-ground pool for the 30-year-old alligator and
allowed people to enter the water to pet the reptile,
according to the state Department of Environmental Conservation.
The alligator has
"blindness in both eyes" and spinal complications,
among other health problems.
The reptile was sent to a licensed caretaker until a place can be found where it can receive permanent care, according to a statement from the agency.
The owner's state license to keep the alligator expired in 2021. State environmental officials have not decided whether they will file charges.
Likewise, authorities believe that a lethargic 4-foot (1.2-meter) alligator found in Prospect Park Lake in Brooklyn in February 2023
was likely an abandoned pet.