A petition on the internet to reunite an 11-foot alligator with its owner has received more than one lakh signatures online. The said alligator is named Albert who had spent over 34 with his owner Tony Cavallaro before he was taken away on March 13 by the authorities belonging to the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC). This led Cavallaro to file a petition on change.org in an attempt to get his crocodile back. In the petition, the 64-year-old said that the DEC and SPCA took Albert away while accusing him of putting people in harm’s way with the creature. However, Cavallaro has voiced that anyone who has either met or knows the crocodile knows that it wasn’t true. He has now requested his supporters to back him once his court date becomes available.
The petition has received over 1.32 lakh signatures so far with several people hoping that the pet alligator is returned to its owner. On the website, one of the signatories wrote, “No animal after that long should be separated from its owner.” Another seemed to agree as she said, “There are more issues going around than a damn alligator that has been loved and cared for by so many people being ripped from his home. Give this man his alligator back.” A user voiced that the authorities should be going after people who abuse animals instead as she wrote, “Go after the people who actually abuse animals for Christ’s sake and give this man back his alligator.” Another concluded, “Albert should be able to live the rest of his life with his companion! It’s cruel to take him away from everything he knows.”
In his petition, Tony Cavallaro also talked about how he was treated like a criminal when 20 or more agents came to his house to take Albert away from him. “It was like I was a gun dealing drug dealing criminal the way they acted. The scene that they made on my street is very disturbing and totally wrong,” he said. Cavallaro further mentioned in the petition that the laws for owning a crocodile were changed two years ago. Having owned the Albert for over 34 years, Cavallaro voiced that he had abided by all the laws and consistently renewed his permit annually as required. He further said, “They ignored my emails and phone calls to make sure I did everything right even though I should be grandfathered in. I will have a court date when they provide it.”
As for Albert, the officials have turned the 340 kg animal over to a licensed caretaker. There were multiple health concerns surrounding the massive creature including blindness in both eyes and spinal issues. Albert will likely remain under observation before he gets moved to a different facility for care, permanently.
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