Albert the alligator’s owner sues New York state agency in effort to be reunited with seized pet

Associated Press

BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — An upstate New York man whose 750-pound alligator was seized is suing the state Department of Environmental Conservation in an effort to get him back, saying the agency was wrong not to renew a license for the pet he looked after for more than 30 years. Conservation officers entered Tony Cavallaro’s home in the Buffalo suburb of Hamburg in March, sedated the 11-foot alligator named Albert, taped his mouth shut and drove off with him, saying Cavallaro’s license to keep the reptile expired in 2021 and hadn’t been renewed. The alligator is now living at a rescue facility in Texas. In his lawsuit, Cavallaro’s attorney, Peter Kooshoian, said Tuesday that the agency’s denial of his client’s license wasn’t “factually based.”