BOSTON GLOBE (Massachusetts) 28 July 05 Gator moved to Beverly after capture - Lab welcomes 4 1/2-foot reptile (Carolyn Y. Johnson)
Where's Waldo now?
If you were wondering, the 4 1/2-foot, 20-pound alligator lifted out of Brockton's Waldo Lake in D.W. Field Park amid much fanfare earlier this month is now basking in a custom-built, rubber-lined, Jacuzzi-style tank on the North Shore.
Waldo was taken to Rainforest Reptile Shows in Beverly, a joint educational and entertainment venture that houses 75 species of reptiles in a large laboratory complex, following his dramatic rescue (or capture, depending on the perspective) last Thursday.
The thrashing, snapping youngster was cornered by animal rescue officials in kayaks while herpetologist Michael Ralbovsky, known in some circles as ''Reptile Man," leaped sock-footed into the foot-deep water to nab him.
Estimated to be 4 1/2-years-old, Waldo will be living alone in his 1,000-gallon concrete tank. After blood tests confirmed that he doesn't harbor any diseases, the alligator began touring camps and nature shows south of Boston last week.
''He did very well, but he's very aggressive," Ralbovsky said. Audiences ''know who he is and it's kind of neat for them to see him and understand that the animals are illegal," and are clearly too massive to be kept as pets, even when they're young.
While Ralbovsky is reluctant to call his collection of animals at Rainforest Reptile Shows a rescue operation, the herpetologist has been increasingly called on by Massachusetts Environmental Police to take in reptiles that share Waldo's plight: illegally kept exotic pets that outgrow their owner's interest or ability to care for them and are released into the wild. Ralbovsky said he has sent about 150 illegal pet alligators to a sanctuary in St. Augustine, Fla., over the past 13 years.

''People are getting these pets legally, probably from another state where it is legal to have alligators," he said. ''They're bringing them here, and they're getting too big for them, and they're turning them loose because they're afraid of prosecution."
Over the past month, a Savannah monitor, a 3-foot lizard from Africa, was captured after it walked into a computer store off Route 1 in Saugus. Another alligator was found in a river behind a car dealership in Auburn. And then Waldo, as well as a foot-long alligator that authorities say has probably been eaten by a large snapping turtle, was spotted in the 70-acre lake in Brockton.
Ralbovsky said the reptile probably had been loose in the lake for less than a week, because he showed no scars, was still plump, and had no algae growing on his body. Life in the lake was a death sentence for the gator, who never would have survived the winter's subfreezing temperatures, according to Nicholas Gilman, chief operating officer of the Animal Rescue League of Boston.
''People are getting [these animals] . . . to show what kind of a tough guy they are by having a 3-foot alligator in their living room," Gilman said. ''This is about people wanting animals to improve their own image of themselves, and it's not fair to the animals."
It's illegal to own an alligator in Massachusetts, but the animals can be purchased in Rhode Island or New Hampshire and brought across state borders. The Animal Rescue League is offering a $1,000 reward for information leading to the identification and conviction of Waldo's owner.
Meanwhile, the gator will be kept under a watchful eye, since he could bite through the pipe that fills his tank with water or get sick, his caretaker said. Ralbovsky said Waldo is quicker and more aggressive than many of the other alligators that he works with, and does not seem accustomed to being handled by humans.
Eventually, Ralbovsky said, he hopes that Waldo will be a powerful example of the cruelty of keeping wild animals as pets. He said he hopes to take Waldo to shows where children will have a chance to touch him, his powerful jaws held closed by elastic bands.
Alligators typically grow to 11 or 12 feet in length. This September, Waldo will be sent to the St. Augustine Alligator Farm Zoological Park, where he'll roam 13 acres among 960 fellow alligators.
Gator moved to Beverly after capture