This photograph supplied by Tony Cavallaro reveals his alligator, Albert, contained in the customized enclosure he constructed for the reptile in his home in Hamburg, N.Y. The alligator was seized by the Department of Environmental Conservation in mid-March.

Tony Cavallaro through AP

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Tony Cavallaro through AP

This photograph supplied by Tony Cavallaro reveals his alligator, Albert, contained in the customized enclosure he constructed for the reptile in his home in Hamburg, N.Y. The alligator was seized by the Department of Environmental Conservation in mid-March.

Tony Cavallaro through AP

HAMBURG, N.Y. — The proprietor of an alligator lately seized by conservation officers in New York is preventing for its return, saying the reptile he named Albert and has shared a house with for greater than three a long time is a delicate large that is no hazard to anybody.

Officers every week in the past met Tony Cavallaro within the driveway of his suburban Buffalo dwelling with a warrant, earlier than sedating the 12-foot, 750-pound alligator, taping his mouth and driving him away in a van.

Cavallaro’s license to maintain Albert, who’s 34 years previous, had expired in 2021, the Department of Environmental Conservation mentioned. But even when it had been renewed, Cavallaro had let different folks pet the alligator, even get within the pool with him, offering grounds for the removing below the foundations for protecting animals categorized as harmful, the division mentioned.

Cavallaro, 64, sees Albert otherwise. His alligator was born and raised in captivity and has by no means confirmed indicators of aggression towards folks or different animals, he mentioned. He recalled discovering Albert curled up along with his canine on the canine’s mattress when the alligator was smaller.

“He’s just a big baby,” Cavallaro mentioned Tuesday, displaying footage of Albert gripping a stuffed alligator in its enamel and resting his chin on a stack of pillows.

Cavallaro has employed a lawyer in hopes of getting Albert again, and his efforts are being backed by his personal neighbors in addition to strangers throughout social media. An on-line petition has been signed by greater than 120,000 folks and followers have created “Free Albert” T-shirts and buttons.

A good friend even penned a tune for the trigger: “Oh Albert, please come home,” the pal sings whereas strumming a guitar in a video posted to Facebook.

Cavallaro has lived with Albert for greater than half of his life after shopping for the alligator at an Ohio reptile present when it was two months previous and considers him an “emotional support animal.”

He spent $120,000 on a customized addition to his home designed round Albert, full with heated flooring, a filtering indoor pond with a waterfall and spa jet, tropical vegetation and a bar.

Tony Cavallaro reveals pictures of his alligator, Albert, on March 19, 2024, in Hamburg, N.Y.

Carolyn Thompson/AP

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Carolyn Thompson/AP

Tony Cavallaro reveals pictures of his alligator, Albert, on March 19, 2024, in Hamburg, N.Y.

Carolyn Thompson/AP

Now it is laborious to enter the area, Cavallaro mentioned, gathering up the stack of Albert’s pillows he mentioned had been tossed apart by the officers and returning them to the carpet the place the alligator favored to put.

“It’s so empty,” mentioned Cavallaro, who wasn’t informed the place the alligator was taken.

Cavallaro says he let folks pet the alligator

Cavallaro acknowledges that acquaintances and their youngsters have additionally been up shut and private with Albert, posing for footage and petting him, often getting within the water. But he says Albert is so affectionate that he hurries to the aspect of the pool to greet Cavallaro’s 84-year-old mom when she visits. She used to observe Albert when Cavallaro went on trip, he mentioned.

“She would sit in his room with him and read with him laying his head on her foot,” he mentioned.

The license grew to become a difficulty following a change in laws for possessing harmful animals adopted by the Department of Environmental Conservation in 2020. After Cavallaro’s license expired in 2021, he didn’t convey the holding space into compliance to make sure the alligator didn’t pose a hazard to the general public, the company mentioned.

Cavallaro mentioned he unsuccessfully sought clarification to resume the license and believes he ought to have been grandfathered in to the previous laws.

Owning Albert is the end result of a lifelong curiosity in reptiles, mentioned Cavallaro, who has beforehand owned caimans, just like an alligator, a monitor and a menagerie of lizards.

“It’s just a fascination. I love these animals and learned a lot about them,” he mentioned.

He disputes the DEC’s declare that Albert has “numerous health-related issues, including blindness in both eyes and spinal complications.”

The alligator, who subsists on a weight loss program of uncooked rooster and pork chops supplemented by nutritional vitamins, is below the care of a veterinarian, together with for cataracts, however Cavallaro mentioned he’s not blind. He mentioned there was nothing unsuitable with the alligator’s backbone earlier than it was carried away.

DEC officers declined to say the place Albert is being stored. In a press release, the company mentioned solely that he is with “a licensed caretaker who will house and care for the animal until it can be properly transported for permanent care.”

It’s unknown what number of alligators are stored as pets within the U.S., however wildlife officers periodically report being known as to rescue deserted reptiles from parks and creeks. Officials consider a torpid 4-foot alligator present in Prospect Park Lake in Brooklyn in February 2023 was seemingly an deserted pet.

In Buffalo in 2014, animal management officers spent days attempting to retrieve a caiman from a creek, ultimately succeeding.