Rejected Gator Snaps Back as Movie Hopeful

From orphan to movie actor in less than a month.

Pretty good for a 300-pounder with a long, ugly snout.

A nameless male alligator, abandoned by his owner in a Chatsworth warehouse nearly three weeks ago, was adopted this week by Jim Brockett, a Pasadena trainer who specializes in providing animals for films and television.

He was one of two alligators, left behind in bathtubs by an exotic-animal dealer who moved out of the warehouse, that were impounded by Los Angeles Animal Regulation Department workers on the ground that they were not receiving proper care.

The female was given to the Los Angeles Zoo, but zoo keepers refused to admit the 9-foot, 10-inch male, saying it would fight with the other adult male alligators.

Letter From Owner

Brockett picked up the homeless reptile at the West Valley Animal Shelter after showing a letter from its original owner--whom neither he nor animal control authorities would identify-- transferring ownership to him. “He gave it to me because he knew I could give it a good home,” Brockett said.

Brockett said he trains and breeds alligators, snakes and rare birds on a site in San Bernardino County. His alligators appeared recently in a TV commercial for blue jeans and in a horror movie about a giant gator that terrorizes a city, he said.

Animal-shelter worker Linda Gordon said Brockett appeared to know his way with alligators. He simply wrapped a strip of tape around the animal’s jaws and led him away, she said.

“He didn’t even use a leash.”