NEED TO KNOW
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A Detroit woman contacted an exotic animal education facility after finding an alligator in her late son’s bedroom
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It took an exotic animal expert 30 minutes to wrangle the 6-foot reptile out of the house
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The reptile was found inside a glass aquarium, almost the same size as the animal with no heat or water
A grieving mother needed backup to remove a large alligator from her late son’s bedroom following his death.
Mark Rosenthal of Animal Magic, a licensed, nonprofit, no-kill exotic animal rescue/educational facility in Detroit, spoke with WKRC and WDIV about a remarkable call he received this week to remove an alligator found lurking in a home’s bedroom. According to WKRC, the mother was stunned to find a 6-foot reptile in her deceased son’s room.
“An elderly woman called in this morning,” Rosenthal told WDIV on Tuesday, Nov. 18, of the conversation. “Her son passed away last week. She buried him on Saturday and said he had a big alligator in his bedroom.”
While Rosenthal told news stations he’s not opposed to people keeping exotic pets, especially since Michigan does not have state laws banning alligator ownership, he stressed that owners need to be responsible for the animals, providing them with proper care and suitable habitats.
“It had no room to move,” Rosenthal said of the alligator in the bedroom, per WDIV, adding that the glass aquarium it was kept in was nearly the same length as the animal. “No water, no heat, no light. I don’t know how it’s in this good of shape. It was in horrible conditions.”
In a conversation with WKRC, he added, “You’re never going to give an alligator a full life because they get huge, and where are you going to keep it?”
It took Rosenthal roughly 30 minutes to wrangle the reptile, which he described as being both angry and afraid.
“I grabbed it by the tail and lifted it by the tail until it was balanced at the top. Then I got off the milk crate, got him down, and then put him in the container,” he explained of how he was able to remove the alligator from the deceased individual’s bedroom safely.
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Since the rescue, the animal has a new name and will soon have a new place to call home.
“Navi-gator” will be transferred to a multi-million dollar sanctuary in Florida.
Read the original article on People
