Wildlife officials remove pet alligator living in Dusty Rhoades Groveport Ohio basement for 25 years. Reptile to be released to alligator sanctuary.
Maybe you also have an animal/reptile living in your basement that might need to be removed too….?
Wildlife officials have told of being called to a Groveport, Ohio home to remove a large alligator that had been living in resident, Dusty Rhoades’s basement for 25 years.
The alligator, according to stunned Madison Township police came in at at 5 feet, Fox 28 Columbus reported.
‘I’ve been a police officer 17 years, and I’ve never come across an alligator,’ Madison Township Patrol Commander Darrel Breneman told FOX28.
‘I just got him when he was about a foot long, and I’ve had him ever since…’
Breneman said police got a call Friday from paramedics saying they had just responded to a home in Groveport and they could not believe what they saw in the basement.
The alligator was living in a tub-like structure with water and a sump pump.
Rhoades told WBNS-TV that he got Alli at a reptile flea market.
‘I just got him when he was about a foot long. I’ve had him ever since,’ he said.
Rhoades was in possession of the alligator without an exotic animal permit but avoided being cited after agreeing to voluntarily surrender the alligator to state wildlife officials, Fox 28 reported.
The alligator was checked out and found to be in average health for an alligator living in captivity.
Alli will eventually have a new home at an alligator sanctuary in Myrtle Beach, S.C.
‘They kind of grow to the size of the enclosure that they’re in, so he’s not reached his full potential, and I think it’s pretty exciting to know that he’s going to an alligator sanctuary in a warmer climate where he can reach his full potential and experience that,’ a bemused Breneman said.
