OBSERVER-DISPATCH (Utica, New York) 19 July 06 Vienna man wants his crocodile back (Rocco LaDuca)
Vienna: Kenneth Stimpson wants his pet crocodile back, even though Wally has bitten him several times over the past 13 years.
It's been more than nine months since the state Department of Environmental Conservation took the nearly 4-foot-long reptile because Stimpson did not have a permit to own him.
After spending months spinning his wheels on how he could get a permit, Stimpson appeared Tuesday in Vienna Town Court one last time to admit he illegally possessed the threatened species and agree to pay a fine.
"Up until now, I've tried to do everything legal to keep that crocodile, and now all I have to show for it is a $100 fine," Stimpson said.
Stimpson, 44, misses the way his croc would sneak under the couch and peek his head out. He also misses the way Wally's feet would slip as he tried to scurry across the kitchen floor and the way his cats would tease Wally face-to-face inside Stimpson's Lake Shore Drive home on Oneida Lake.
Stimpson plans to appeal the DEC's decision to deny him a permit, public defender Tina Hartwell said.
According to the DEC, only licensed handlers are allowed to possess the caiman crocodile, which is native to South and Central America, only for educational purposes or at a zoo facility.
Stimpson bought Wally when he was less than a foot long 14 years ago. Wally has been kept in a glass tank built into Stimpson's living room wall.
He said nobody ever complained until two teachers came to his home when his 4-year-old grandson was enrolling in preschool. After one of the teachers found out about Wally, she reported Stimpson to the DEC. Wally was taken away four weeks later.
"What upsets me the most is that I had my way of life disrupted by somebody who thought he was a danger to my grandson," Stimpson said.
Oneida County Assistant District Attorney Matthew Worth said people can't keep potentially dangerous animals without proper permits.
"He obviously loves the animal and has a real attachment to it," Worth said. "But that doesn't make it right."

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