He may be seeing you later, alligator.
A 750-pound alligator seized by government agents from a Buffalo-area home could be headed back upstate after a judge determined the Department of Environmental Conservation wrongly denied its owners’ application for a dangerous animals permit.
Albert — a 34-year-old gator who spent his life in a lavish pen at owner Tony Cavallaro’s Hamburg house until the government came knocking nearly a year ago — might be back home as early as April after a New York Judge ruled the DEC must issue a new ruling on Cavallaro’s application by mid-March, or return the beast to Cavallaro within 10 days.
“I fought tooth and nail for this,” a delighted but still determined Cavallaro told The Post. “They never expected somebody to come back and fight them like I did. They thought they were going to come in and walk all over me like some pansy.”
Cavallaro — who was fully permitted to own Albert for nearly 30 years until a state rules around dangerous animal ownership changed — sued the DEC over the summer and claimed his 2020 reapplication to keep the gator was ignored until armed agents showed up at his door years later in March 2024.
The agents carted the animal away to a Texas petting zoo before summarily denying the application, Cavallaro said.
But after a December hearing, an Erie County court determined the DEC was in error for considering the application denied because it failed to adequately respond to it for three years, after which time it was reasonable for Cavallaro to believe it had been accepted.
The judge ruled Cavallaro’s original permit open again, and told the DEC around Feb. 14 it had 30 days to respond or else the application would be considered accepted and Albert would come home.
“There’s no guarantee, but it looks good,” Cavallaro said of the chances he’ll soon be seeing the gator, who he’s often described as a lovable beast full of personality and affection.
Though the DEC technically could simply deny the permit, the judge ruled it needed to first offer Cavallaro a “reasonable” opportunity to make renovations to enhance the public safety features on Albert’s already pen.
Such changes to the pen — a more than $140,000 enclosure complete with a pond, extensive water filtration, specialized windows, lighting and heating systems — could be as simple as adding a double door system for added public safety and new fencing.
“I just want him to have a nice life again,” Cavallaro said, explaining he was more than happy to make additions to Albert’s enclosure and that all he cared about was the health of his “gentle giant.”
“I can’t even imagine what’s going through his head. They don’t think animals have any feelings or nothing, and that’s the farthest from the truth,” he added.
The DEC told The Post it was reviewing the court’s ruling.
Cavallaro first bought Albert as a hatchling around 1995 to be part of an exposition of reptiles and animals he owned. Over the years he’s gotten out of the business, but Albert has remained by his side all the while.
The battle to bring Albert home galvanized the local community, many of whom were familiar with the exotic beast living nearby for nearly three decades — a community Cavallaro said were instrumental in pulling him through the “traumatizing” ordeal.
“The DEC didn’t know the following I already had, the people that had already met me and knew Albert and how well I took care of him,” Tony said.
“He was loved by everyone. They never expected that.”
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