STAR-PRESS (Muncie, Indiana) 18 September 07 Rescued alligator off to Florida (Lathay Pegues)
Muncie: Some of the employees at the Muncie Animal Shelter gained valuable experience recently should they ever desire to work at a Florida shelter.
That's because they can now write "Experience with alligator" on their resumés.
After taking care of a five-foot alligator for nearly two weeks, the shelter on Monday afternoon sent it to a home better suited for reptiles.
Croc Encounters, a reptile park and wildlife center in Tampa, Fla., agreed to take the alligator off the hands of the Muncie Animal Shelter.
Shelter employees rescued the alligator from the Morningside neighborhood on Aug. 5 after it was found wandering on Cornell Avenue.
The reptile escaped from its owners by climbing over an outdoor fence that was supposed to contain him.
Karen Gibson, superintendent at the Muncie Animal Shelter, said the gator had outgrown its containment box inside the owners' home. So they built a gated area outside, not realizing the alligator's ability to escape.
In Indiana, it's illegal to own an alligator longer than 5 feet without a "vicious animal permit," according to Gibson.
The couple didn't acquire a permit.
However, the shelter hasn't issued a ticket to the owners of the alligator, which measured around 4-feet-11-inches long. "We've been talking to the city attorney," Gibson said, adding there's a chance they won't pursue the ticket, since the couple surrendered the reptile to the animal shelter.
The alligator spent 12 days at the shelter, confined to its own kennel, equipped with a heated water pool, and heat lamp to keep the reptile's body heat at the proper temperature.
Employees fed the gator -- nicknamed Vader Gator -- such foods as chicken, fish and shrimp.
"Shrimp was his favorite," Gibson said.
Employees got used to Vader living at the shelter, especially Kris Clapper, who was sent out on the call of a "gator on the loose."
"I thought it was a joke," said Clapper, who started working at the shelter only a week before the alligator rescue.
He learned that the call was very real when he arrived at the scene, however, and unsuccessfully tried to snare the gator.
He said it was Gibson who pounced on the animal and secured its mouth with tape.
"Karen came out, and she jumped on it like a trooper," Clapper said.
Gibson, who is also a wildlife rehabilitator, said she is used to working with injured animals such as deer. But when it came to catching the alligator, the only training she had under her belt was a few episodes from an animal television network.
"Actually, I just imitated what I see on Animal Planet," Gibson said, chuckling.
Gibson had to do it all over again Monday afternoon, when shelter employees put the reptile in a custom-made box constructed by students enrolled in Southside High School's construction trades class, taught by John Hall.
The class received specific requirements for the wooden crate, then planned, cut and assembled it.
The students -- Danny Barker, Chelsea Bartling, and Scott Hoover -- made the 4-foot-long box, including air holes, and ropes at both ends to make the box easier to carry.
"They made that box perfect," said Clapper, who sealed the box top with wood screws.
Unconditional Love, a local animal rescue group, delivered the alligator to Richmond, the chosen halfway mark between Muncie and Cincinnati, since employees with Croc Encounters were already in Cincinnati picking up two other rescued alligators.
Before finding Croc Encounters, the Muncie Animal Shelter had contacted some zoos.
However, most zoos avoid accepting stray animals as a way to control disease, according to Gibson.
Rescued alligator off to Florida