A 3-foot alligator captured outside a Buffalo Grove home Tuesday could soon find itself getting the celebrity treatment at a theme park dedicated to its kind.
Representatives from Gatorland, an Orlando, Fla. attraction known as the “Alligator Capital of the World,” offered Thursday to take the gator, nicknamed Chewy by Buffalo Grove police, and have him spend the rest of his life there.
However, they have not yet been able to reach the herpetologist housing him, said Tim Williams, Gatorland’s Dean of Gator Wrestling and Director of Media Productions.
Of the park’s 1,500 alligators, Chewy would be the only one from Chicago, which is enough to land him a spot on their “Celebrity Row,” Williams said.
“We don’t get too many Chicago resident gators,” Williams said. “I think it would be great if we could go, ‘Yeah, he was raised all the way up in Chicago, but it was too chilly for him’.”
Other residents of Gatorland’s Celebrity Row include rare white alligators with blue eyes, a camera-friendly gator named “Pops” who has been featured in numerous TV shows and documentaries, and a Florida gator named “Chester” who was part of a high-profile case where he “ate a few dogs” and had his life spared after Gatorland got involved, Williams said.
Gatorland would pay for Chewy to be flown to Orlando in a plywood crate with air holes, and he’d ride in the cargo area of the plane with other caged pets, Williams said. The 110-acre theme park has plenty of room for him.
“If I die and am reincarnated as a gator, this is where I’d want to be. People feed you, wash your house, let you go into the mating marsh … it’s the life,” he said with a laugh.
Police announced Thursday they had located Chewy’s owner, who now could face criminal charges for illegally owning the 20-pound reptile, village police said Thursday.
The owner, whose name has not yet been released, lives near the 600 block of Pinehurst Lane, where the alligator was captured. Police said he housed he reptile in a large enclosure that included a sunken pond with waterfalls. The pond was surrounded by a brick wall and fencing.
The owner told officers he has had the alligator for three years and was unsure how long it had been out of the enclosure before its capture Tuesday night.
Police are working with the Illinois Department of Natural Resources to determine if any criminal complaints will be filed, according to a news release Thursday. Under the Illinois Dangerous Animals Act, owning an alligator is a Class C misdemeanor punishable by up to 30 days in jail and a fine of up to $1,500.
The alligator now is with a herpetologist who offered to care for the animal after it initially was taken in by Arlington Heights-based ABC Humane Wildlife Rescue and Relocation.
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