NEWSDAY (New York, New York) 08 October 05 Mechanic finds baby alligators in decrepit car (Deborah S. Morris)
A Queens auto body shop mechanic found a wild surprise on his way home from work last week -- two baby alligators abandoned in a tank dumped in the back of a decrepit car.
"His car was parked nearby and he saw them and brought them home," Hector Cepeda, whose roommate found the two alligators in Brooklyn, said Friday. "They were in a dry tank with no food or nothing."
Cepeda and his roommate, whose name Cepeda wouldn't release, kept the 30-inch, 10-pound standard American alligators in their Corona apartment for a week and a half.
Then Cepeda discovered two important facts -- it's illegal to keep alligators as pets and they can grow to 300 pounds.
On Friday, he called in the professionals.
"That's very intimidating," he said of the growth potential of the gators, which he named Left and Right, a reference to the unfortunate chance they could become footwear.
"I didn't touch them after I read that," he said. "We had to call somebody, but we didn't want them to be killed."
No chance of that, said Mike Pastore, field manager for Animal Care and Control of New York.
"We are going to try and place them with a snake and reptile place outside the state," Pastore said Friday after picking up the critters, which he estimated were from 8 to 10 weeks old.
He said a law passed this year forbids ownership of such exotic animals unless a person has a permit. No one in New York has such a permit, he said.
"These animals are attention-grabbers. It's not just a dog or cat -- it's something to talk about, like going to a trendy restaurant," Pastore said. "But not only are they illegal, these are animals that could be harmful."
Mechanic finds baby alligators in decrepit car