‘Alligators don’t make good pets, y’all’: Texas zoo rescues reptile stolen as egg

Texas parks & wildlife spokesperson said a game warden found the animal, named Tewa, during an unrelated investigation in Caldwell county last month. Photograph: The Guardian

A Texas zoo said it had taken back an 8ft alligator which was stolen as an egg more than 20 years ago, then kept as a backyard pet.

In an Instagram post accompanying footage of three agents gingerly lifting the alligator into a truck and releasing it into a zoo enclosure, the state parks and wildlife department said: “Alligators don’t make good pets, y’all.”