Hamburg, New York– Upstate New York man who His alligator was seized After sharing the house for more than three decades, he gave up his court battle to get the reptile back which he affectionately named Albert.
Tony Cavallaro sued the state Department of Environmental Conservation after officers encountered him with a warrant in the driveway of his suburban Buffalo home in March 2024. The officers drugged the 12-foot (3.6 m), 750-pound (340 kg) alligator and took it away in a truck.
Albert, who lived in an indoor pool, eventually ended up in a shelter in Texas.
Cavallaro sued over the state’s denial of a license to keep Albert. But he decided in March to give up after nearly two years of costly litigation with no quick end in sight, according to his lawyer.
“Tony is upset,” attorney Peter Koshoian said Thursday. “He’s owned the animal for over 30 years, and he’s never had a problem until this happened. So he doesn’t feel like he was treated properly by the government.”
Even if Cavallaro wins, Koshoyan said, he believes the state will heavily regulate how the animal is cared for.
Cavallaro’s license to hold Albert expired in 2021, according to the department. But even if it was refurbished, Cavallaro allowed other people to pet the alligator and even get into the pool with it, providing grounds for its removal under rules for keeping animals classified as dangerous, the agency said after the seizure.
The seized alligator was suffering from blindness in both eyes and spinal complications, among other health problems, according to the state.
Cavallaro insisted that Albert was “just a big kid” and showed no signs of aggression.
He bought the alligator at a reptile show in Ohio when it was two months old and considered it an “emotional support animal.”