PIERCE COUNTY, Wash. — Pierce County deputies and animal control officers in the Lakebay area have seized an alligator measuring six feet, 7 inches long, that was living in a small tub inside a shipping container.
Animal control had received a complaint about someone on a property possessing the reptile. It is illegal to have alligators in Washington.
Also in the shipping container was a very sick calf and a mattress for the 32-year-old owner to sleep in the container with the animals.
Deputies and animal control officers went to the property armed with a search warrant to seize the alligator and check on the sick calf. The calf and its owner were gone, but the alligator was still in the tub.
The gator was taken to The Humane Society in Tacoma.
Deputies said the gator was in good health, and will now live in a large habitat.