CINNCINNATI POST (Ohio) 12 September 03 Family's gator puts law to test (Shelly Whitehead)
It was a Wednesday, eight weeks ago, when temptation finally proved too much for Dundee, the alligator.
Sure, his Florence backyard baby pool was nice. And the hand-fed hot dogs were plenty tasty. But honestly, how long could an alligator be asked to blankly stare across the road at a creek-full of crawdads before his predatory instincts finally kicked in?
Apparently, for Dundee, until July 16. That's when someone left his Vivian Drive pen unlatched and the 5-year-old American alligator knew what he had to do.
Sadly, for Dundee, it proved to be the exact wrong time to make his move. For soon after he skimmed across his backyard lawn, over the hot Rosetta Drive pavement and onto the cool and craggy banks of Utterback Creek, a couple of Florence Water and Sewer Department employees drove past and did the mother of all double-takes.
It was, after all, an alligator in the creek.
"Somehow they spotted him. I don't know if they were just driving by or what," said Florence City Code Administrator Jeremy Kleier. "Utterback Creek is 5- or 6-feet-wide there, and he was right on the banks there."
Like so many before him who have succumbed to temptation, Dundee's brief foray into forbidden territory may also bring dire life-changing consequences for the 3˝-foot hand-raised alligator and his human family.
Shortly after Dundee's July escape, his owner, Sandy Smith, was cited for the misdemeanor offense of harboring a wild animal, under a Florence city ordinance passed in 1986 prohibiting any citizen from keeping wild animals as pets.
In August, Smith pleaded not guilty to the charge, maintaining his alligator is a pet purchased just after it hatched five years ago at a Florence pet store and raised by hand ever since.
Boone County Animal Control Warden Becky Reiter said though this is the first pet alligator case cited under the ordinance, she fully expects it will not be the last.
"The main concentration of this is on public health and safety," Reiter said.
"Obviously he escaped, which is a big issue -- But also you can't give (alligators) the adequate type of environment that they need. Not to mention that he could eat a cat or small dog, or it could hurt a person -- Even though they've imprinted they're not discriminate about what comes in contact with their mouths. They're alligators. I don't see the possibility of taming them."
Smith disagrees. To demonstrate Dundee's docile, domesticated nature, Smith's 18-year-old son, Bobby, pulled Dundee from his fence-enclosed baby pool. After some brief reptilian wiggling and hissing, Dundee settled into Bobby's lap and slowly lowered his eyelids as Bobby stroked his ridged prehistoric-looking skin.
Smith, a 45-year-old self-employed contractor, says he bought Dundee for his then 13-year-old son as a palm-sized hatchling who snacked on crickets as big as his head. For five years with the Smiths, Dundee has summered in a plastic backyard baby pool, and wintered inside their compact and quiet residential Florence home.
Smith says Dundee is a family and neighborhood favorite, who takes in an occasional TV show, naps under the bed and snacks on boneless chicken and Kahn's all-beef wieners.
The mention of "wieners" triggers Smith's memories of the pet that preceded Dundee and the ugly incident that ultimately prompted father and son to find a family animal more skilled in self-defense in a dog-eat-dog world.
"We have property down on Lake Cumberland, and one day while we were at the house down there, a coyote came up and grabbed ahold of our wiener-dog and just took off with him," Smith says sadly.
"So when me and my son decided on this alligator, I said, 'Let's see if that coyote will grab this alligator.'"
Ultimately, it may be the law that grabs this alligator away from his Vivian Drive home. A Boone District Court judge is scheduled to hear the case in a week.
If found guilty of harboring a wild animal, Smith faces a fine and up to 90 days in jail. But the worst consequence for this alligator foster father would be losing a cherished family pet.
Reiter said if the judge decides Dundee must move out, she will work with U.S. Fish and Wildlife officials to place him in a rehabilitation and release program.
Other options include placement in a reptilian rescue program, an aquarium or zoo. Reiter admits she has limited experience in alligator outplacement.
As for the Smiths, they hope Dundee can be placed close to home, if he cannot come back to their home. Sandy Smith says Dundee has a loyal local following of Florence friends and would probably be lost among all those "uncivilized" gators in the wild.
"The only thing you can really do with a hand-fed alligator is put him in another backyard somewhere, because he's going to be wanting to watch television and he'll be scratching on somebody's door for hot dogs if you just turn him loose. He's used to human beings feeding him," Smith said.
"I was actually hoping that the city of Florence, like they have that water park out there -- maybe they could build him a cage or something to keep him in this area. I mean what's more dangerous? A pit bull or an alligator? A pit bull will run you down. An alligator will just run away -- My alligator didn't do nothin' anyway but cross the road and get him a crawdad."
Family's gator puts law to test