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MAIL TRIBUNE (Medford, Oregon) 19 June 05 Day 2: Still no sign of pet gator loose in Medford
Usal the alligator’s whereabouts are still unknown, Medford police officer Greg Lemhouse said late Saturday.
The 3½ -foot-long reptile escaped Thursday night from a home in the 1400 block of Dixie Lane in southwest Medford. Police searched the neighborhood for more than an hour, but found no sign of Usal.
Usal’s owner, Paul Sabin, said the alligator will likely run if approached by a human. But Usal could become aggressive if anyone gets too close, Sabin said.
Anyone who sees the alligator is advised to phone Medford police at 770-4784 or Sabin at 282-1549.
Sabin adopted Usal about three months ago from someone who kept the alligator inside a 4-foot-long aquarium. Usal moved into a swimming pool in Sabin’s garage, and escaped Thursday when Sabin left his garage door open and went inside his house to tend to an ill Burmese python he had previously adopted.
http://www.mailtribune.com/archive/2005/0619/local/stories/17local.htm

MAIL TRIBUNE (Medford, Oregon) 18 June 05 See you later alligator - Toothy reptile escapes from Dixie Lane garage (Jack Moran)
More than likely, Usal the alligator will run if confronted by a human.
But don’t get too close if you see him coming down your street. According to his owner, Usal can be a little unpredictable.
"Reach for him, and he’ll probably try to bite," said Paul Sabin, a Dixie Lane resident who left his garage door open for 45 minutes late Thursday while tending to an ill 12-foot Burmese python inside his house.
Sabin’s efforts to save the snake failed. Things got worse when he returned to the garage and found Usal had escaped into the night.
"I totally spaced and left the door open," Sabin said. "I feel horrible. I’m afraid somebody’s going to get hurt, or lose a pet."
Police responded to Sabin’s southwest Medford neighborhood at about 11:30 p.m. Thursday and searched more than an hour for the 3½ -foot-long reptile, police Lt. Mike Moran said.
"We’ve had snakes and lizards loose before, but never a gator," said Moran, who was surprised to find there is no state law or local ordinance preventing Sabin or anyone else from housing an alligator.
Authorities are warning Medford residents to call them if Usal shows up on their block.
"It would not be safe for a person to approach it," Moran said.
Sabin, who adopts reptiles that are not properly cared for by previous owners, said he never had an alligator before Usal slithered into his life about three months ago. Before then, Usal lived a cramped existence inside a 4-foot aquarium and was in poor health, Sabin said.
Sabin moved Usal into a 1,500-gallon swimming pool in his garage, and nursed the 3-year-old gator back to health. Usal apparently maintains a forceful bite, despite the fact he lost several teeth while living with a previous owner in Medford.
"(Usal’s teeth) do exert a tremendous amount of pressure," Sabin said. "I don’t think he’d be able to bite off somebody’s hand, but he could probably break some fingers."
Usal prefers dining on frogs, fish and turtles, but will snack on a mammal if he’s hungry enough, Sabin said.
No Usal spottings had been reported to police by late Friday, leading Sabin to suspect the gator might have crawled into a storm drain.
"If he’s down there, he’s as good as dead," Sabin said. "I hope that’s not what happened."
Anyone who has seen Usal is asked to phone Medford police at 770-4784 or Sabin at 282-1549.
If Usal is located, Sabin hopes to stick with a plan to move him to a Denver-area facility named Colorado Gators that currently houses about 400 alligators.
"I know not a lot of people have warm, fuzzy feelings when it comes to reptiles, but I’ve always had a liking for them," Sabin said. "What usually happens is that someone will buy one when it’s little, but won’t know what to do with it when it gets big. That’s when I’ll adopt it."
http://www.mailtribune.com/archive/2005/0618/local/stories/02local.htm

MAIL TRIBUNE (Medford, Oregon) 20 June 05 Gator’s back 3 days later - The reptile turns up in a yard near owner Paul Sabin’s home (Jonel Aleccia)
Photo at URL: Paul Sabin was reunited Sunday with Usal, a 3½-foot-long alligator that was missing for about three days in his Medford neighborhood. (Jim Craven)
Three days of freedom did nothing for the disposition of Usal, Medford’s missing alligator.
Returned Sunday to owner Paul Sabin, the 3½ -foot reptile responded by hissing menacingly and flipping his tail in front of a curious crowd of kids and neighbors.
"He didn’t want to come home," said Sabin, 34, a roofing contractor turned reptile rescuer. "He squirmed and tried to bite me."
On the lam since Thursday, Usal was spotted at about 12:30 p.m. Sunday crawling through neighbor Mark Collins’ backyard. Sabin moved quickly to retrieve the errant beast, but Collins was more interested than alarmed.
"My brother-in-law was there and he was wearing sandals," said Collins, 49, a medical center executive. "We were worried about his big toe."
Usal normally resides in a 1,500-gallon shallow pool in Sabin’s Dixie Lane garage. The alligator was out of the pool on Thursday, when Sabin became distracted by another pet, a 12-foot Burmese python, who seemed sick.
By the time Sabin turned his attention back to Usal, the alligator had absconded.
Sabin credited Sunday’s sunny weather with the reptile’s return. Allowed to crawl on the sidewalk outside Sabin’s home, Usal flattened himself against the warm concrete. Passing traffic and strolling families stopped to gawk at the 3-year-old yellow-green lizard basking in the afternoon rays.
Usal is only one of many critters corralled by Sabin, who said he’s been collecting and rehabilitating reptiles for about four months. His menagerie includes five snakes and a Savannah monitor lizard, in addition to the alligator.
Such pets are legal under state and local law, though bills introduced this year in the Oregon Legislature would change that. House Bill 3046 and Senate Bill 661 have stalled, but both would expand Oregon’s definition of exotic pets to include alligators and would require owners to obtain permits or face stiff fines.
Sabin said he’d support such legislation. It’s too easy for people to buy 8-inch baby alligators at pet stores without realizing that they’ll eventually grow to 10 to 15 feet and develop jaws strong enough to crush a man’s arm — or worse, Sabin said.
The number of alligators living in local homes would surprise you, said Joey Sparks, who works in the reptile section of the Grange Co-op in Medford.
"I’d say there’s probably 25 3-foot alligators in Medford right now," said Sparks, who has talked to their owners. "I tell them it was probably a bad idea."
One local alligator owner already called to ask if Sabin would take the reptile off his hands. Sabin said sure.
Sabin figures he’ll keep Usal until the end of the summer, when he plans to ship him — and any others — to a Colorado reptile repository.
That’s fine for now, said Lynne Young, owner of Colorado Gators, which started as a fish farm near Colorado Springs. More than 400 alligators now reside at site, which has also become home to large snakes, snapping turtles and other suddenly unwanted pets.
"We can probably take alligators for a while yet," said Young, who deplores what she regards as irresponsible ownership of exotic animals.
Stopping the practice has become part of her agency’s mission, Young said.
"We do school programs and try to teach kids the difference between a good pet and a bad pet," she said. "There’s snakes that don’t get that big and little geckos. It doesn’t have to be 12 feet long."
Gator’s back 3 days later