INTERVIEW WITH TONY CAVALLARO—GUARDIAN OF ALBERT THE ALLIGATOR
By Maureen Schiener
[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]Even though it’s been eight months since Albert was confiscated by the State of New York’s Department of Environmental Conservation (and the SPCA serving Erie County), Mr. Tony Cavallaro is still distraught, emotional, grieving, and angered by the intrusion of these two agencies into his home.
According to Mr. Cavallaro, the DEC had informed him that double doors were a new requirement for Albert’s enclosure so the animal wouldn’t be able to escape.
As he had invested thousands of dollars for Albert’s living quarters, Tony contacted the DEC to request for Albert’s home situation to be grandfathered in (since there was a small chance the alligator would escape).
Tony did not hear back from the DEC, as they never responded after Covid in 2021.
One day in March, 2024, as Tony was returning from vacation, he was blindsided by an onslaught of vehicles from law enforcement, fire department, the DEC, and the local SPCA.
They kept him in his kitchen while they searched his home, rummaging through drawers, taking his cell phone, breaking furniture in the process. Tony said the law enforcement had shotguns and wore full body armor. It was a very scary scene, as some neighbors took videos and photos. They confiscated Albert, taped his snout, put him on a stretcher, and according to Tony, dropped him in the driveway before placing him in the SPCA van—never to be seen again.
The DEC claimed that after a period of “rehabilitation,” Albert was transferred to a Texas theme park: Gator Country Rescue Park gatorrescue.com where they claim Albert was attended to and is kept separate from the others for his own safety. Its website states: Animal encounters, a unique experience offered here at Gator Country Adventure Park/Sanctuary. Kids and adults of all ages will have the opportunity to watch one of our three educational shows (weather permitting) and learn about our animals with a HANDS-ON experience. Each encounter includes the opportunity to hold the animal and have your picture taken with it, as well as spend some quality time with our college interns and our staff in a one-on-one environment.
Tony had bought Albert from a captive breeder when he was still in his infancy. He lived with Albert for 34 years. Whether anyone feels the alligator should not have been purchased as a pet and kept in a suburban home for all those years, certainly a simple phone call or personal letter explaining new regulations should have sufficed…rather than sending a fleet of law enforcement to Tony’s home, invading his privacy, using intimidation, and harming the very being he had taken care of and loved for 34 years!
Tony is suing the DEC. You can follow him on Facebook here: facebook.com/tony.cavallaro.313
Maureen Schiener is on the League of Humane Voters New York Planning Board and she is a board member of People for Animal Rights (PAR). She lives near Tony Cavallaro’s home and interviewed Tony for this article.