A priceless news report of a pet alligator who found his home in a 1980s Belfast pub has resurfaced online in recent days.
Fred the alligator was the subject of an RTÉ broadcast in 1988 after being taken in by the Swiss Chalet Pub in Glengormley, six miles north of Belfast.
He was initially adopted by adventurous pet owner Pat McNamara, who RTÉ reporter Fergal Keane interviewed for the segment.
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However, Pat’s wife was less keen on the new addition to the family as he got bigger in size, leading Pat to ask pub owner Brian Hull to look after the agile alligator.
“It more or less started as a joke. I went down to look at the alligator and I ended up buying him for the bar,” Brian revealed in the video.
The broadcast, available from the RTÉ archives, was recently edited into a piece that is now trending on Irish TikTok.
Fred lived in a tank visible behind the main bar during his time at the Swiss Chalet pub and enjoyed a delectable diet of raw fish.
When asked by Fergal Keane whether he was fearful over what Fred could get up to upon reaching his adult size, bar owner Brian remained cautiously optimistic.
“The customers all like him up to now anyway. He could well want more than the raw fish. When he grows to five or six feet, we’ll find out then,” Brian nonchalantly adds.
Although Fred had to leave his home with Pat and his wife Anne, they were nonetheless reunited in the pub while filming the segment.
Pat’s attempts to shower his former pet with affection, however, did not go down so well in the final seconds of the video.
A second TikTok published from the same account claims that Fred eventually got too large for his tank and became a resident of the Seaforde Gardens and Tropical Butterfly House in Co Down.
You can watch Fred’s eventful story unfold here on Tiktok. The full report is also available through the RTÉ archives.
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