Picture: Tik Tok ashalan3
Animal lover Ashley Betts has been ordered to pay £934 in fines and costs for keeping an alligator in his garden.
Cliff – an American gator – lived in a purpose-built outhouse and water tank for a year.
His presence was found when the police called on Mr Betts about a different matter.
Officers seized the alligator when its owner said he did know it had to be licenced.
Picture: Tik Tok ashalan3
Mr Betts, 32, from Rotherham, South Yorkshire, pleaded guilty at Sheffield Magistrates’ Court to breaching the Dangerous Animals Act.
Mr Betts refused to tell the police the identity of the man – “a friend” – who gave him the reptile.
And, he told the court he “did not know” he needed papers to keep the alligator, which is native to America and Mexico.
Cliff is being looked after at an animal park in Liverpool.
The court heard there was “no suggestion” Cliff had been treated badly or not cared for.
His defence counsel, James Gray, told the court:
“Mr Betts is not being prosecuted for neglect or mistreatment.
“What he is hoping to achieve is, by working with the appropriate departments of the council, he can one day obtain a licence and apply to get the alligator back.”
