Posted on 03/16/2016 9:58:19 AM PDT by Hojczyk
A Florida woman was fighting Wednesday to keep her 6-foot-long clothes-wearing, motorcycle-riding pet alligator in her home.
The 125-pound reptile named Rambo even has a bedroom in Mary Thorn's home in Lakeland.
Thorn has had a license for the alligator for 11 years, but the gator recently grew to 6 feet. Wildlife officials say an alligator that size must have 2.5 acres of land. Thorn told the Orlando Sentinel that even if she had land available, Rambo can't be left outdoors because of sensitivity to sunlight.
“Everyone will tell you that I treat that animal like a baby,” she said. “He doesn’t do anything a normal gator does.”
Thorn takes Rambo to schools and charity events to teach people about reptiles and has trained him not to bite.
"He loves kids, and when kids come around he shuts his mouth really tight so fingers can’t go in his mouth," Thorn told the Orlando Sentinel, adding that she has been given permission to have the reptile out and about without its snout taped shut.
Florida Wildlife Commission spokesman Gary Morse said Thorn's case is under investigation. He added that since Thorn had Rambo before the 2.5-acre stipulation went into effect, the pair could be grandfathered in.
Thorn said she received the gator when it was four years old. Up until that point, it had been kept in a dark closet with other alligators, The Orlando Sentinel reports.
Thorn is looking into getting Rambo certified as a therapy animal so she can keep him. In the meantime, she has been struggling with finding someone with the proper license to take ownership of the gator.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
That photo gives new meaning to “trailer park trash”. They don’t keep dogs, no. They keep gators, who share motorcycle rides with them.
“Wildlife officials say an alligator that size must have 2.5 acres of land. “
Who is the wildlife dweeb that made that regulation? As if a
croc with only one acre is not going to thrive? Sheer idiocy.
Back in the day on Miami Vice Sonny Crocket had his gator Elvis that guarded his boat. Elvis was law enforcement just like a K9. Man that was funny.
Sonny claimed the Alligator was the University of Florida mascot, which is not true. Florida never kept a live alligator as a mascot.
Years back, I went to Shippensburg college to buy a Dumeril’s Boa off the science professor.
I examined her in a cold, dank basement janitor’s closet [about 8 x 8] while a running-loose 6 foot juvenile gator clambered all over my sandaled feet.
Rather than fear, I felt sorrow.
That small space was its world and the only relief it had from the cold floor was a kiddie pool with dirty water in it.
I bought the Dum, and left wishing I could have gotten him to give up the Ball Pythons living in a 10 gallon unheated aquarium and the slew of pitiful corn snakes who were literally swimming in plastic sweater boxes full of their own filth.
I don’t know what ever became of the snakes but I’m told the gator now has a good owner and appropriate home.
Hysterical hyperbole much?
WTF are you talking about?
I could ask the same of you.
Really? That all you got? Now make your effn point.
I thought Sonny Crockett had a Ferrari.
A Mustang Cobra?
Ad hominem.
What a surprise.
Now go look up how many kids are killed by cows, horses and their own loving parents every year.
Bet ya won’t.
Wot?
LOL
Traffic cop: Who is the hippo riding with you?
Lady: That’s not a hippo. That’s an alligator!
Cop: I was talking to the alligator.
“Freeedom vs security. The story is an allegory.”
File this under “deserves neither”.
/ba bum siss!
Salamander was purchasing a certain species of snake. They are commenting on the deplorable conditions under which other snakes the seller had were living.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.