South Philly Row Home Strange Place for a Gator
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An alligator in South Philly? It sounds like the opening to a cheesy joke.
You meet lots of characters in South Philly but nothing quite like a seven-foot-long alligator named Kirt.
Animal officers removed the seven-footer from a home on the 1300-hundred block of Warnock Street Tuesday, according to the Pennsylvania SPCA.
Some neighbors knew about the gator living in the row home but nothing was done until someone tipped off the SPCA about the large reptile.
When officials went into the home they found the gator living in a basement with a converted pond fully equipped with a pumping system.
The gator's owner, Mike McClay, voluntarily turned over his scaly pet to humane law enforcement officers so that he would avoid a fine, he told NBC 10.
He owned the animal for the past three and half years.
McClay's day job as an exterminator introduced him to Kirt. He did some extermination at a house where Kirt was kept as a pet. The gator was given to McClay after the previous owner was hauled off to jail, McClay said.
Kirt the gator was taken to a Philly SPCA location. The SPCA hooked up the reptile with his own barn area with a baby pool.
It is unlikely that McClay will be charged since he cooperated with officials.
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