Quote Originally Posted by Mindibun View Post
I'm probably going to make myself sound like an idiot here, but aren't people required to have a permit to keep those? And even then, isn't one of the requirements of having the permit that once they get too big that they must go to a gator rescue or something like that? I don't know too much about it, but the way it sounds in this thread is that people can just go out and buy a baby gator and raise it up for fun. Maybe I got the wrong impression.

Either way, I can't see why anyone would *want* a pet alligator...

Nothing against Wally or any other happy healthy gators and their keepers, btw.
I dunno about other states but I know here in Washington you can own them up to 6ft without a license or permit. Then its like $100 renewal fee after that. Washington is also very leniant with reptiles because of the long cold season they really dont have to worry bout people leting them go and taking over since they usually die during the winter. Baby alligators are for sale everywhere up here. Pretty sad. Im only craigslist quite a bit too and theres usually quite a bit of them up for sale. Usually about 2 ft and for sale for twice the amount they got em for. Would be nice if they made more strict laws on owning larger lizards so that only those who can truly take care of them are allowed to own them.