After stealing and hatching an alligator’s egg from a local zoo over 20 years ago, a woman has to say goodbye to her beloved pet.
KSAT reports the Texas Parks And Wildlife Department seized the 7-foot alligator from a Buda, Texas, home. The unidentified woman allegedly stole the alligator as an egg from the Animal World and Snake Farm Zoo in New Braunfels, where she used to volunteer.
The zoo’s Jarrod Forthman explained, “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.”
Two decades later, the alligator is now hard not to notice. The creature outgrew the woman’s home and was living in the backyard.
Game Warden Joann Garza said the alligator “was very friendly with her” and appeared to be well taken care of.
While it is legal to own an alligator in Texas under certain circumstances, Garza said rules and regulations in the state were not followed.
The woman faces up to $1,000 in fines for illegal possession of an alligator, but she won’t face the music for stealing from the zoo since it’s past the statute of limitations.