Family Keeps 8-Foot Alligator in Suburban Yard for Decades

An 8-foot-long alligator was confiscated from the backyard of a Van Nuys home earlier this week, animal control officers said today.

The owners of the home at the 13200 block of Sylvan Street did not have a permit to keep the alligator, which had been living on their property for the past 40 years, officers said.

“An alligator of that size is an absolute (public safety) concern to our department,” Cmdr. Mark Salazar said.

Animal control officers paid the home a visit late last year after receiving a tip from a neighbor that they had seen a 10-foot alligator in the backyard.

They did not find an alligator at that time, but there was some indication “there may have been an alligator on the property,” Salazar said.

Suspecting that the residents of the home moved the alligator, the officers made a surprise visit to the home on Monday, but were refused entry. The officers obtained a search warrant and returned to find an alligator inside a wooden box in the backyard.

Also found in the container were two “deteriorated” carcasses of “small animals that appeared to be cats,” Salazar said.

He said they are asking neighbors if they believe their pets may have been eaten by the alligator over the past 40 years. The owners appeared to have owned the alligator since it was a baby, Salzar said.

“We do not know if in fact the alligator was being fed any kind of domestic animal,” Salazar said. “We’re just continuing to investigate at this point.”

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Animal control officials have not determined what charges they might pursue with the city attorney’s office, but they are examining the health of the alligator to see if humane charges need to be filed.

The alligator is now residing in a temporary location at the Los Angeles Zoo, Salazar said.

The gator’s owner, Laura Mattson, told ABC7 her late husband, Jim, owned the animal.

“It’s like losing part of my family, plus it’s losing part of Jim,” Mattson said.

Mattson’s brother, Ron Gorecki, told the station the gator was like part of the family. But he denied the creature had been feeding on cats in the neighborhood, despite claims by animal services officials that some dead cats were found near the alligator.

“We lost the alligator, and now they’re making statements they shouldn’t be making, because nobody’s feeding cats to the alligator,” Gorecki told Channel 7.

He said the gator only ate chicken. The family also said they had contacted the zoo and other agencies in hopes of finding a home for it.

• City News Service
• Photo Credit: Twitter user Gisela Margarita ‏@ABC7Gisela