Eight-foot alligator stolen from Texas zoo as an egg or hatchling 20 years ago is returned
Eight-foot alligator stolen from Texas zoo as egg or cub 20 years ago is returned after illegally living in a pen in the backyard of an Austin home
- A woman stole an alligator egg or chick 20 years ago and raised it as a pet
- She worked at the Animal World and Snake Farm Zoo in central Texas
- Game wardens in Texas found the gator by chance and returned it to the zoo
An 8-foot alligator that was stolen from a Texas zoo 20 years ago as an egg or a boy has been returned.
Texas Parks and Wildlife Department officials accidentally discovered the gator in a woman’s backyard while investigating a possible case of illegal hunting.
She told them that 20 years ago she was volunteering at a nearby zoo when she took the animals to raise as pets.
Because owning an alligator is illegal in Texas without proper permits, the reptile was returned to Animal World and Snake Farm Zoo — about 40 miles from the woman’s home and just south of Austin.
Texas game warden Joann Garza (pictured) said officials accidentally discovered an alligator in a woman’s backyard while investigating a possible case of illegal hunting
The gator was returned to the Animal World and Snake Farm Zoo where it was stolen as an egg or hatchling about 20 years ago
Jarrod Forthman (pictured right), who works at the zoo, said crocodile nests can hold 50 or 60 eggs or chicks and one could easily be caught without arousing suspicion
Game wardens said the woman was sad to lose her pet alligator named Tewa and had been generally well cared for but had outgrown his enclosure.
A spokesman for the department said the confiscation was approved by a judge in early February after the woman, who was not identified, failed to meet property requirements.
Texas law allows people to keep alligators if they are breeding, raising or using them for zoological reasons.
“She found it a little difficult, but she still has to follow all the rules and regulations in the state,” Texas game warden Joann Garza told KWTX. “It was very friendly with her,” she added.
Jarrod Forthman, who works at the zoo, received a call from the Parks and Wildlife Department shortly after they found the gator.
‘Alligators have a nest of 50, 60 eggs at a time. So it would have been very easy for someone to bring home an egg or a boy without anyone noticing,” he told the channel.
“They volunteered here at Animal World and Snake Farm decades ago and apparently stole this gator, then pocketed the egg or young gator, took off, and basically kept this thing as a pet for at least a year. 20 years,” Forthman said in a video posted Friday.
The guards said the woman had taken good care of the gator, whom she named Tewa, but it had outgrown its enclosure (pictured)
Forthman said he sympathized with the woman who lost her pet but assured it is now well cared for
Guards have reported that the gator is thriving in its new habitat, where it has the company of other gators
The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department posted footage of the repossession. “Alligators don’t make good pets, y’all,” the caption read.
Texas game wardens helped move this gator to wildlife rehabilitators at Animal World & Snake Farm Zoo. The gator had been living illegally in someone’s backyard for years and had grown to nearly eight feet in length,” he added.
“My heart goes out to her and we’re going to give it a new home,” Forthman said.
Guards have reported that the gator is thriving in its new habitat, where the woman can still visit her former pet.
She could face up to $1,000 in fines for illegal possession of the gator, but all charges for stealing the egg or hatchlings are time-barred.