The State - News from March 25, 1987

Charges that a Sunnyvale restaurant owner violated state law by selling alligator meat have been dropped, but the Santa Clara Valley Humane Society is not satisfied. Police seized some of the meat--advertised as alligator--from Harold Welch’s Caribbean-Cajun Restaurant at the urging of the society, on grounds that state law prohibits selling the body or parts of alligators. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said alligators no longer are on the national endangered-species list, and Welch said the meat was caiman, a cousin of the alligator which is not on the endangered species list. Also, he said the food was not sold but served free, as a promotion. Lt. Mike Marshall of the Sunnyvale Department of Public Safety said there was, therefore “no possession with intent to sell.” But society spokeswoman Kathy Snow vowed to fight on. “We’re still going to oppose this on moral grounds,” she said.