HOME NEWS TRIBUNE (East Brunswick, New Jersey) 22 May 04 Reptile not a Proper Pet - Gator seized in Old Bridge (Suzanne C. Russell)
Old Bridge: It's not every day you see a guy walking an alligator on a leash near the basketball courts in Laurence Harbor.
So when somebody did Thursday, he called police.
And the police in turn contacted Sonja Svenningsen, township animal-control officer, who is such an animal tamer that she had the reptile sleeping in her arms: Its mouth taped shut, of course.
"It's cute. It's a baby, about 2 to 3 years old. The alligator slept in my arms," said Svenningsen, who was not sure of the reptile's sex or its weight, but estimated it to be about 15 pounds. "It's pretty as long as its mouth is taped shut."
She estimated the alligator was nearly 4 feet long.
Alligators have been dumped in the area and picked up by animal-control officers in the past, and a 10-foot tiger reticulated python snake nicknamed "Fluffy" was rescued on Route 9 in Old Bridge just last month. But, Svenningsen said, "this is a first for me."
Svenningsen got the call of the unusual sighting along the Laurence Harbor beachfront around 6:45 p.m. Thursday. Police told her a man was walking an alligator on a leash by the basketball courts on Laurence Parkway.
When police arrived, they found Jeffrey Foster, 25, of Roosevelt Boulevard, Laurence Harbor, walking the small alligator with its mouth taped shut.
Police alerted Svenningsen, who told Foster it was illegal to possess an alligator in New Jersey. Foster told police he got the alligator at a reptile show in Philadelphia about six months ago, police said.
Although no police summons was issued, the state Department of Environmental Protection will issue a summons for possession of a potentially dangerous species, according to Erin Phalon, DEP spokeswoman. The summons carries a fine of up to $5,000, she said.
Svenningsen said Foster told her the state DEP's Division of Fish, Game and Wildlife had stopped at his Laurence Harbor home earlier Thursday, saying they were going to take the alligator. He claimed Fish, Game and Wildlife officials said they would come back when they had something to put the reptile in. Foster could not be reached for comment.
But Svenningsen said that if Fish, Game and Wildlife officials had come to his home, they would have been prepared to take the reptile.
So when she saw it, she took it.
"He shouldn't have had it. It's illegal in New Jersey. It's a dangerous animal," she said.
Svenningsen said Foster told her he kept the reptile in a room with a light. He told her he also has a python, which is not illegal depending on the species. A permit would be needed for a python.
Svenningsen, who is fostering some newborn kittens, said he knew the alligator couldn't ride in her car.
After making calls to state Fish and Game as well as the New Jersey Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, she arranged for Frank Spiecker of Garden State Pest Management to take care of the alligator until state wildlife officials could arrange to pick it up.
Spiecker, who also lives in Laurence Harbor, said his wife, who is used to the pythons and boas he has cared for in the past, was a bit startled to find an alligator on their porch. He found a cage for the alligator where it could be safely housed. He removed the tape around its mouth but was instructed not to feed it, he said.
The alligator is expected to be turned over to Bill Boesenberg of Snakes-n-Scales and Turtle Tales, a Wanaque reptile company that presents environmental-education programs, Svenningsen said. Boesenberg could not be reached for comment.
STAR-LEDGER (New Jersey) 22 May 04 Neighbor comes to gator's aid - In a snap, wildlife officials evict reptile from Old Bridge residence (Tom Haydon)
Jeffrey Foster thought nothing of carrying his pet alligator through his neighborhood in the Laurence Harbor section of Old Bridge.
"It's no big monster," said the 25-year old Foster. "It's a little baby."
But at least one of Foster's neighbors thought the sight of a squirming 3 1/2-foot alligator with electrical tape wrapped around its elongated snout was odd.
The neighbor called authorities, who promptly took the reptile from Foster around 6:45 p.m. Thursday near the basketball court at the Laurence Harbor Community Center.
"He shouldn't have been walking around with that, even with electrical tape around its mouth," township animal control Officer Sonja Svenningsen said yesterday, one day after she confiscated the reptile and turned it over to Frank Spiecker, who owns a private pest management company, to hold for state wildlife officials.
"It was not a happy animal," Svenningsen said. "That electrical tape was on so tight, it was very hard to get off. And (the alligator) was not so nice when once the tape came off."
Oddly, just three hours before Svenningsen confiscated the alligator, a State Fish and Wildlife officer investigating an anonymous tip went to Foster's home and found him keeping the animal in a 12-by-12-foot basement room.
"It was an aggressive alligator. It was hissing and snapping," said Erin Phalon, spokeswoman for the state Department of Environmental Protection, which oversees the Division of Fish and Wildlife.
"He had a large plastic box with water for the animal, and it was free to move about the room. The animal looked well and it appeared to be healthy," Phalon said.
Foster signed a "constructive seizure" form requiring him to keep the alligator safely until the state could re-locate it, Phalon said.
Phalon said Foster would also be issued a summons for keeping a potentially dangerous species.
Foster said he disagrees with the assessment.
"That's the state of New Jersey saying it's potentially dangerous," Foster said. "In Pennsylvania, they will sell (alligators) to you in a pet store."
Although Foster refused to say how long he had the animal, Phalan said he bought the alligator in the neighboring state about six months ago.
Fish and Wildlife officers will take the animal either to a zoo or alligator farm, Phalon said.
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Reptile not a Proper Pet Gator seized in Old Bridge
