LAKELAND, Fla. (AP) — A Florida woman is fighting to keep her 6-foot-long pet alligator in her home.
The 125-pound reptile named Rambo wears clothes, rides on the back of a motorcycle and has a bedroom in Mary Thorn's home in Lakeland.
Thorn has had a license for the alligator she's kept for 11 years, but it recently grew to 6-feet and wildlife officials say that size alligator must have 2.5 acres of land. Thorn tells the Orlando Sentinel that even if she had land available, Rambo can't be left outdoors because of sensitivity to sunlight.
Thorn takes Rambo to schools and charity events to teach people about reptiles. She says she has trained him not to bite.
“Everyone will tell you that I treat that animal like a baby,” Thorn told the Orlando Sentinel. “He doesn’t do anything a normal gator does.”
Florida wildlife commission spokesman Gary Morse says Thorn's case is under investigation.
WPTV spoke to Thorn and she asks that anyone who wants to help her keep Rambo to call the Florida Fish and Game Commission in Tallahassee at 850-487-1790.