Family keeps illegal alligator for almost 40 years.

The Mattson family from Los Angeles,
US, had their pet alligator for 37 years seized by
the Los Angeles Animal Services as they did not
have a permit to own one, CNN reports.

Jaxson, as the alligator is called, is an 8-foot long
female who the family acquired when Jim, the
late family patriarch got when Jaxson was still a
baby in 1977. Laura, Jim’s widow, has said losing
Jaxson has felt as if they were losing Jim all over
again.

Officials who were investigating the case found
two dead cats in the Mattson’s backyard but they
deny feeding cats to the alligator, saying that
Jaxson grew up with cats.

Read more at CNN