His name is Albert, he is 34, and those who know him say he’s a “gentle giant”.
He is also an 11-foot, 750-pound alligator, and New York State authorities seized him from the house where he lived in Hamburg, a town in Erie County south of Buffalo.
The man owning the house had an in-ground swimming pool set up like a pond and apparently invited people, even children, to swim with Albert, allowing “members of the public to get into the water to pet the unsecured alligator,” per the State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC).
The man originally had a state license to keep the gator, but it expired in 2021. At the time, authorities determined that the area where Albert was kept fell below acceptable security standard. Why wasn’t he moved then? According to the DEC, because they checked and Albert was not in contact with humans and therefore did not pose a threat.
The reptile also has serious health problems: he is totally blind (which may have helped with the “gentle giant” attribution) and has spinal complications. He was assigned to a licensed caretaker, waiting to find him a permanent home. Will he finally be protected, or will he be torn away from the only home he has ever known?
The original owner, Tony Cavallaro, is fighting back. He has had Albert for 34 years and claims that he “took care of him better than most people take care of their kids.”
“As everyone has probably already heard, the DEC and SPCA took Albert away from me saying that I put people in harm’s way with him. Everyone who has met Albert or knows Albert knows that this is not true,” he wrote in an online petition.
“They 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”.
Cavallaro has the support of the local community; friends and neighbors are rooting for him online and confirming he treated Albert with love and care, adding that the gator did not represent a threat.
