Pair of alligators stolen from White Township pet store
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Stealing alligators is not for the faint of heart, especially when it’s a 6-foot female and a 4-foot male.
State police, nonetheless, are seeking information about the pair, stolen Aug. 8 from an outdoor enclosure at Pearce’s Pet Place in White Township, Indiana County.
The reptiles, valued at about $2,000 total, were not for sale, Pearce said.
“We believe the suspect or suspects lifted or pulled the alligators from the enclosure, which was a wooden-type box with a hinged, screened lid,” Trooper Cliff Greenfield said.
Michael Pearce, owner of Pearce’s Pet Place, said Tuesday that he believes that someone might have used a snare on the six-foot alligator and pull it out of the broken box because the gator would have fought fiercely if someone attempted to lift it up.
Pearce, who lives about the shop, said he did not hear anyone driving up to the business in the middle of the night or break the box because of a sound machine that was playing in his room. He said his daughter, Lauren, initially thought he had let the alligators out of their cage when she saw they were gone.
Whomever took the American alligators, should be careful when handling them or feeding them fresh or frozen meat, especially the six-foot female he described as “tamed.”
“If you put your hand out at it, it would have eaten it,” Pearce said noting the alligator’s jaws are extremely strong.
“They have some of the strongest bites in nature,” Pearce said.
The six-foot gator, who will grow to 10-feet-to-12-feet in length, was actually tame enough that he could take it around children, with a muzzle on, and they could sit next to the alligator, Pearce said.
Pearce said he had been offered $1,500 for the female alligator, but did not want to sell it.
Jim Nesci, of Cold Blooded Creatures in Naples, Fla., said, while every alligator is different, whoever stole this pair may have gotten more than they bargained for.
“Some of them can be extremely aggressive, some not so much,” said Nesci, whose collection of reptiles is made up almost exclusively of rescues. “Typically, what happens is, someone gets them as a hatchling. By the time they get to around three feet (long), people want to get rid of them because they’re afraid of them.”
Police did not say whether the alligators at Pearce’s were rescues. But Nesci said they have the potential to be dangerous.
“Can they do damage to you? Absolutely, if you don’t know how to handle them,” he said. “They’re powerful.”
Pearce’s Pet Place reopened in 2018, following a 2015 fire that killed many of the store’s animals.
Pearce said he hopes the thieves return the alligators safely. While they are being held, Peare said he hopes the animals are in a nice, big enclosure.
“I would be happy for them,” Pearce said.
Pearce said he worries that thief may just dump the alligators in a local body of water, such as Yellow Creek State Park, where they could endanger someone and not survive the winter and the frozen lake.
Tips can be called to Trooper Steven Barnosky at 724-357-1960.