I’ve always been intrigued, or maybe confused by people who have reptiles for pets. Our pets have always been small dogs that had the run of our backyard, but were free to come curl up beside us in our recliners too. Having a pet that’s slimy, scaley or that carries a shell around on its back, or one that might take my hand off when I try to pet it, has just never registered with me. It all reminds me of a story I read a few years back about a guy in a Kansas City suburb who had a pet alligator named Katfish. So, 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” included a 7-foot alligator.
On this particular 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 behind the house. The officers had to enlist the help of animal control officers and the owner of a local exotic wildlife rescue group called Monkey Island. It took 5 men to remove the gator, and after a lengthy rodeo, Katfish was finally extracted from the hot tub and exiled to Monkey Island.
Casey told officers he got Katfish when he was only 15 to 18 inches long, and now 4 years later he was 7 feet long and weights 200 ponds. Casey insisted “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 told them he fed Katfish chicken nuggets, steak, deer and fish.
I personally think Casey was 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 became devoid of most anything else on 4 legs but Katfish, and was possibly missing a few occupants on 2 legs as well. Parts of Kansas City have a whitetail deer problem and that would have been 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 looked like the house where they all lived was 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 have been 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 have paid 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 remained for then at Monkey Island. Casey said he would fight to get Katfish back, but animal control told him “That’s not going to happen.” When
asked about Katfish’s new living situation, the owner of Monkey Island told reporters his sanctuary was full because he had to “rescue” 2 more alligators in the previous couple months. Explaining that rescued alligators need separate pens, he quipped “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 can be contacted by email at [email protected].
