Picture this; you’re a law enforcement officer in Kansas City, MO and you show up one morning at a home to evict the tenant, along with his belongings, only to find his “belongings” include a 7 foot alligator.
On Wednesday morning law enforcement officers arrived at the home of Sean Casey in southeast Kansas City, Missouri to evict him from the home he was renting, giving him just a short time to gather his possessions. They soon found his possessions included 3 python snakes, several domesticated dogs and cats, a rabbit named “Dinner” and a 7 foot alligator affectionately called “Katfish” found lounging in a hot tub at the home. The officers had to enlist the help of animal control officers and Dana Savorelli who operates Monkey Island, a local exotic wildlife rescue group. It took 4 men and Savorelli to remove the gator, and after a lengthy rodeo, Katfish was finally extracted from the hot tub and exiled to Monkey Island.
Casey got Katfish when he was only 15 to 18 inches long and now 4 years later he is 7 feet long and weights 200 ponds. Casey insists “Gators are not big and ferocious like people think. Katfish doesn’t seem to know he’s an alligator and thinks he’s a dog. He likes to come out and play and sit on my lap. Sometimes he gets kinda’ smelly but he wags his tail when I come home.” Casey said “I tell people I have an alligator that can’t swim and is afraid of the dark and thunderstorms.” Casey says he fed Katfish chicken nuggets, steak, deer and fish.
I personally think Casey is being really naïve. I have to think ole’ Katfish made secret nightly soirees out into the hood for snacks. I’ll bet if you only knew, that neighborhood is devoid of most anything else on 4 legs but Katfish, and is possibly missing a few occupants on 2 legs as well. Parts of Kansas City have a whitetail deer problem and that would be a novel “natural” solution.
Since Kansas deer have never seen the likes of a gator before, ole’ Katfish could probably waltz right up to grazing whitetails, wish them a good evening and invite them for dinner… his dinner that is. It looks like the house where he lived with Casey is very near a pond and not far from the Little Blue River, so after dinner a short waddle to either body of water would allow him to dispose of any remains and no one would be the wiser (at least for awhile.) Katfish must have had a special “Don’t Eat Us” contract with the rest of the pets and the rabbit named Dinner and with Casey too for that matter. After all, if Casey were to disappear, who would pay the electric bill to keep his hot tub warm? Casey told reporters he had made Katfish a ramp to get himself in and out of the hot tub and the house, so after his late night banquet he could just drag his fat and sassy carcass back up the ramp, plop back into his comfy warm hot tube sanctuary and life would be good; he’d be livin’ the dream!
Alligators are illegal to possess in Kansas City, so Katfish will remain for now at Monkey Island. Casey says he will fight to get Katfish back, but animal control says “That’s not going to happen.” When asked about Katfish’s new living situation, Savorelli told reporters his sanctuary was now full because he’s had to “rescue” 2 more alligators in the last couple months. Explaining that rescued alligators need separate pens, he said “You can’t just put these guys together, they’d be fighting like dinosaurs.” Wait, I thought Casey said “Gators are not big and ferocious like people think.” …I say isn’t there a Tony Lama
factory somewhere close??? Continue to Explore Kansas Outdoors.
Steve Gilliland, Inman, can be contacted by email at [email protected].