The alligator was raised as a pet for 20 years by a Texas woman

An ‘alligator’ in a fenced-in area: An employee of the zoo tells the story of an alligator

An employee from the zoo says that they got a call from the Texas Parks and Wildlife department about an alligator that had been in someone’s possession for 20 years.

At a property in rural Caldwell County, investigators found an alligator in a pen while conducting a separate investigation.

The woman was cited with two misdemeanors: illegal possession of an alligator egg and possession of an alligator without the proper permits, Shugert said. Each carries up to $500 in fines.

A woman in central Texas named an alligator Tewa, which means ‘dear’, after she treated it as a pet. The woman’s name is not being released.

It’s not clear whether the reptile arrived before or after it was called. The alligator was compliant with the Texas Game Warden as she raised it since the hatchling.

It was Garza-Mayberry who first spotted the unlikely pet last month. The scene shows a gator living in a fenced-in area with an artificial pond, the type of water feature found in a landscaped garden.

In its guidelines the wildlife agency notes that orangutans shy away from humans. “Problems arise when alligators are fed by people. The alligator loses its fear of humans and begins to associate people with food.”