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By Aliss Higham
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A petition to bring an alligator back home to his owner in New York has amassed more than 100,000 signatures after the 800-pound pet was seized by authorities last week.
Albert the alligator was taken by the New York Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) from the home of Tony Cavallaro last Wednesday. Albert, whom Cavallaro bought from a reptile show in 1990, lived in a specially built room on Cavallaro's property, equipped with a pool and a small waterfall.
According to a statement issued by the DEC, the alligator was seized on March 13 in "the interest of public safety and the health, safety, and protection of the alligator." The department has alleged Cavallaro allowed members of the public "to get into the water to pet the unsecured alligator." Newsweek has contacted the New York DEC for comment via email outside of normal working hours.
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The DEC has said Cavallaro did not have an in-date license to keep the animal and that public interaction with the alligator is not permitted. Cavallaro has contested this in the petition, saying that rules around alligator ownership were changed "two years ago" and that in his 34-year ownership of Albert, he had "abided by all of them and renewed my permit annually as required."
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He also insisted that Albert, who is blind and has spinal issues, was well looked after. "Everyone who has met Albert or knows Albert knows that this is not true," he wrote. "I took care of him better than most people take care of their kids."
"In this case, the former owner's license to possess the alligator expired in 2021 and was not renewed, a statement from the DEC read. "At that time, DEC determined the owner's facility failed to meet specific conditions to ensure this dangerous animal did not come in contact with humans and did not pose a threat to humans or the animal.
"To be clear, even if the owner was appropriately licensed, public contact with the animal is prohibited and grounds for license revocation and relocation of the animal."
Speaking of the seizure, Cavallaro wrote in the petition that the DEC "brought at least 20 or more agents to my house in full body armor and guns treating me like a criminal. It was like I was a gun dealing drug dealing criminal the way they acted."
Onlooker Laura Lautner said the removal of Albert was distressing. "It was really upsetting how it was handled," Lautner, a neighbor of Cavallaro, told WKBW Buffalo. "They loaded Albert on the back of a cargo van, and just laid him there."
Speaking of Albert being allowed contact with other people, Lautner said that Cavallaro was not hosting "alligator get together, or parties," and that "he's just a really nice guy and loves that alligator, and treats it well." Cavallaro told WKBW Buffalo that children have previously been allowed to pose for pictures in the pool with Albert in the back, but that it wasn't a regular occurrence.
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