50-pound alligator found at Hemet pot-growing house has new home

A 50-pound alligator found by narcotics agents while raiding a Hemet pot house now has a new home: the Forever Wild Exotic Animal Sanctuary in Phelan.

Video shows the alligator apparently enjoying his new digs.

"He wasn't aggressive at all. ... This guy was just very, very mellow," said Joel Almquist, who was summoned Monday night by authorities to take the alligator to his animal sanctuary.

Narcotics agents raiding the pot house made the surprise finding amid dozens of plants and seedlings. The 4-foot-long gator had been living inside the home, where the owner had set up a concrete tub with water so the reptile could stay wet.

Although privately owned alligators are illegal in California, Almquist told The Times, they are popular pets. He said he has recovered about 70 alligators in the last four years.

The animal in Hemet was an American alligator, which are found across the Southeast.

Almquist said he taped the animal's mouth shut for the trip back to the sanctuary. "I had to kind of push the plants to the side," he said, "and pick the gator up and boogie out of there."

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-- Robert J. Lopez
Twitter.com / @LAJourno

Comments

[Rob]

very very mellow because he was probably very very stoned

[My view means nothing]

It was a guard gator! "Good boy! Got me another agent!"

[Merp]

I'm curious why an animal "sanctuary" has stacked birds in tiny cages and so many alligators in a tiny metal tub. How is this a sanctuary????

[westsidejesse]

Imagine walking your pet alligator down the Venice board walk?

Now that would be cool...

[Tom, Long Beach, California]

all of this for a pot bust...what a waste of tax $

[steveg68]

It would be nice to ship the alligaors back to the mashes of the southeast.

[matthew]

Down the Venice BoardWalk would be cool, down Hemets main drag of Florida Ave would be ridiculous, then again, quite fitting for the towns "new look" promoting - Pot Houses & Prostitutes.

[PapaVito]

Come on Merp, the alligator is going through rehab to kick his marijuana habit. He is seen just leaving his "group therapy". As for the birds, I bet they are glad they are in cages with that many pot addicted alligators around. Ever heard of gator munchies?

[james mcsparron]

Hey, a gaiter does not sound too out of place in a house in a sunny part of the USA but dig this: The Garda in Buncrana, County Donegal, Ireland busted into an apartment on the main street and found a large female lion on large bean bag full of amphetamines. Her name was Eevon and she was about 250 pounds. She hadn't eaten for three days and the woman Garda was very surprised at her great will power. It took several men with huge front loaders to tease Eevon out of there and into the back of a converted bus. She now resides at an offenders home under a strict diet of cabbage and millet stew. They're searching for her Kiwi husband who was last seen handing out sweets to young chimps at Belfast zoo.

[Joel Almquist]

The animals have larger enclosures,they are kept indoors at night during the winter time.

[ljl]

@james mcsparron hAHAHA GREAT STORY! It's always about those 3 days...

[g koniog]

I just cant fathom why they can bust a legal collective when 2 doors down tweekers with come and go on bikes all night long and the indians across from them cook dope and have traffic all night long and have been doing it for years.

[schmendric]

An alligator in a pot house? No wonder he was mellow!