Tina the Gator gets an upgraded home.
Wednesday, May 16th, 2007Just about a year ago, I was out with my grandmother at the Pasadena Humane Society looking into getting her another dog after her sheltie passed on.
I was expecting to see lots of dogs and cats, and some birds here and there (they do have an aviary afterall).
What I wasn’t expecting to see was a 5-6 foot American Alligator named Tina.
Tina, of course, was not for adoption. Tina’s been a permanent resident of the Pasadena Humane Society since 1998, when she was abandoned after the wildlife company she was at went out of business. So now she’s part of the PHS’ educational program. Over the years, Tina has become accustomed to humans, and therefore even if released in the wild, she would never be able to survive.
But a 15 year old, 7 foot-long gator needs space. When I saw Tina a year ago, she didn’t have much room at all, considering her size. There was a bit of water there to swim in, but she was just laying still, half in water, half out. I honestly thought at first that she wasn’t real because there wasn’t any movement! Of course, with so little room and such a big body, I would imagine it’d be kinda rough to move.
Thankfully her confines have been given an upgrade; double the size it originally was. Tina now has a 20′ x 18′ living area, half of which is a filtered pond, donated by Ray Stewart; the owner of Waterworks Ponds in Glendale.
[From Pasadena Star News]
