Alligator on loose in city was just a soft toy - telegraph.co.uk

24 August 2008
When an alligator was reported loose on the streets of Bristol, police and the RSPCA snapped into action.

Roads were sealed off as they staked out the creature, which appeared to be lying in garden bushes with the remains of a bird in its jaws.

After a tense 30-minute stand-off, emergency workers used a camera to zoom in on the reptile – and discovered that it was a stuffed toy.

Richard Masling, an RSPCA inspector, said after Friday’s incident: “As animal rescues go, this one was child’s play.”

RSPCA chief inspector Richard Masling said: "We thought it would be a captive caiman which had escaped or been abandoned, then killed and eaten a wild bird and was laying on the grass digesting it.

"Caiman are part of the alligator family and have very sharp teeth, so it was very important that the police and RSPCA took all the necessary safety precautions to protect ourselves and the public.

"But in the end, as animal rescues go - this one really was child's play."

It is unclear if the emergency was a prank but the toy had fluff in its mouth to appear like feathers and an elastic band made to look like a muzzle was wrapped around its jaws.

Chief Insp Masling added: "Although this turned out to be a funny call, the number of unwanted and abandoned exotic animals which the Society deals with is no laughing matter. That includes, on occasions, the odd caiman."

Caiman alligators are native to freshwaters in the United States but can be kept as pets.

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Alligator recovered in a Union City drug bust recovers at Oakland Zoo - insidebayarea.com

22 August 2008
OAKLAND — Nimitz is just about to be released from reptile rehab and head for a new home in Florida. He appeared very happy about this Thursday morning in his temporary pen at the Oakland Zoo, although it's hard to tell if he was smiling at onlookers or considering them possible snacks.

We'll say smiling, because Nimitz has every reason to be an exuberant American alligator these days. He's come a long way since March, when he was found during a drug bust at a Union City apartment, all 5 feet of him crammed into a fish tank about the same size, his muscles atrophied from lack of exercise and his system weak from a steady diet of hot dogs.

Since then, he's been recovering at the Oakland Zoo, learning how

to eat real gator food (rats, mice and fish), regaining his strength, cooling himself in a small pond and basically lounging around in thick grass till the tourists go home.

In about two weeks, he will be traveling in a specially built crate to a permanent residence at Croc Encounters, a 22-acre nonprofit sanctuary in Florida for rescued or endangered reptiles.

"It's been really rewarding for us to see him outside like this, and so healthy. We're proud of the progress he's made," said Margaret Rousser, lead keeper of the children's zoo — and of Nimitz — watching lovingly as he trotted over to his pond for a refreshing morning dip. "When he first came to us, he was very thin for his length," she said. "We've estimated he's about 3 or 4 years old, but it's hard to tell since his growth rate was altered by his limited environment and poor nutrition.

"He was so weak when he got here, he could barely take two steps. His muscles had atrophied pretty badly. And he was frightened. He had never been in sunshine and grass before, and he just stayed huddled up against the wall behind the tortoise exhibit. It took a good two months to get him strong enough that we felt he could go outside and walk through the grass

Nimitz, a confiscated alligator brushes his nose on the fence at the Oakland Zoo Thursday August 21st, 2008. The approximately 3 year old American Alligator will be sent to a sanctuary in Florida. (Mike Lucia/Daily Review) like this."

It's illegal for people to keep an exotic animal as a pet without a permit, and there's a reason for that, Rousser said.

"Not only could such an animal pose a danger, but most people don't have the resources to keep an animal like this, the proper environment or food," she said. "They have no idea how to care for it; the animal grows bigger than they expected and then ends up in a bad situation, or let loose, which poses other problems."

Nimitz was so named by zookeepers because he was found in an apartment on Decoto Road, on the fringe of Interstate 880. On March 14, Union City police officers were conducting a routine probation search at the apartment of 30-year-old Eric Windom when they came across a few

Visitors at the Oakland zoo watch as Nimitz, an alligator that was confiscated in Oakland, recuperates Thursday, August 21st, 2008. The approximately 3 year old American Alligator will be sent to a sanctuary in Florida. (Mike Lucia/Daily Review) surprises: numerous pot plants, other illegal drugs, a handgun and — much to the officers' surprise — an alligator.

Windom, who was arrested on various drug and firearms charges, didn't have a permit for such a critter, so Nimitz had to be confiscated. Animal control and the California Department of Fish & Game were called in to assist six Union City officers in wrangling the gator, with help from over-the-phone advice from the Oakland Zoo.

"We had to get two catch poles to put around the neck and tail," said Fish & Game Warden Jessica Jacobsen. "He was scared, so it wasn't an easy task. Then we were able to get him in one of the cages in the animal control van, and we brought him to the zoo."

The zoo is not usually in the business of rehabbing distressed animals, but where else is a gator gonna go?

"There really aren't that many places around here to rehab an alligator," Rousser said. So they set up a special pen for Nimitz with his own private quarters because he was too small to be with the five full-grown alligators in the zoo's regular exhibit.

He has grown during his zoo stay — not much in length, but in girth. He's 25 pounds now, and when fully grown, he could get up to 300 pounds and 8- to 10-feet long.

He will never be able to go into the wild, even in his native Florida, Rousser said. "It's like taking a person out of New York City and throwing him in the rain forest," she said. "He wouldn't know sources of food or how to survive.

"I'm gonna miss him, but I'm absolutely thrilled he's going to be in a safe place down in Florida, where alligators come from," Rousser said. "He'll get a chance to be an alligator again."

Runway cleared of fish, alligator and snakes - myfoxorlando.com

20 August 2008
MELBOURNE, Fla. As if drenching rains, flooding and unrelenting wind weren't enough, Tropical Storm Fay threw a different challenge at Melbourne International Airport staff early Wednesday.

A routine check turned up some unexpected visitors that had washed onto the active runway - two gopher tortoises, four walking catfish, an alligator and a blue indigo snake.

"We thought one of the tortoises was the top of one of the taxiway lights - then it started to move," said Cliff Graham, the airports operations manager.

The unexpected wildlife encounter provided much-needed comic relief for the airport staff. "We had to get the four walking catfish off the runway before Delta could land, Graham said. "We all got soaked, but it was important to clear the runway to ensure passenger safety and to get the animals out of harms way, airport executive director, Richard Ennis added.

Walking catfish use their pectoral fins to get around on land and can breathe out of water as long as they stay moist, which wasn't a problem Wednesday morning with drenching rains which poured over most of Brevard County.

The tortoises were moved to the airport's designated gopher tortoise relocation area, the walking catfish and snake were tossed back into a nearby pond. The gator scampered back into a drainage ditch, Ennis said.

Doctors fail to reattach arm of boy attacked by alligator - journalnow.com

1 August 2008
NEW ORLEANS Doctors were unable to reattach an 11-year-old Louisiana boy's arm that had been retrieved from the belly of an alligator, a family friend said yesterday.

Doctors at Ochsner Hospital worked Wednesday night to reattach Devin Funck's left arm, which had been taken to a hospital after its recovery about 31/2 hours after the attack. But family friend Cory Dunn said that the effort was unsuccessful.

"They could not save the arm," Dunn said. "He's got a long way to go, lots of surgery. He'll need prosthesis."

Alligators a snap for delivery man - upi.com

20 August 2008
SAN FRANCISCO. Animal transportation worker Rick Cleveland says he has no problem transporting alligators around the United States despite their hostile demeanor.

Cleveland, who delivered an American alligator to a San Francisco aquarium this week, said delivering the potentially deadly reptiles poses a much more substantial risk that animals like bears or lions, The San Francisco Chronicle said Wednesday.

"I won't do giraffes," he said. "I won't do elephants. I won't do rhinos... Lions, tigers, bears -- those are a piece of cake."

But the fact he is open to transporting alligators makes Cleveland a rare commodity in the delivery world nationwide.

"There's not many people who do it," Cleveland told the Chronicle. "For obvious reasons."

Nonetheless, Cleveland said the ideal journey with the typically intimidating beasts is one that is "boring."

"You try not to have any problems ... we just want it to be real boring," he told the newspaper.

Crikey! Lost Gator Found At Hotel - thedenverchannel.com

19 August 2008
DENVER -- Sheriff's Deputies in Garfield County were surprised to find 38 inch caiman hiding out in a motel Monday.

Animal control deputies were called to the Super 8 motel in Parachute and captured the caiman, which is a cousin of alligator.

The reptile was taken to the Vet Tech School on Springs Valley Campus in Carbondale.