Anti-Gator Law Loses Its Bite--Papa to Stay

Officials said Monday that a dispute over a pet alligator that has lived for 24 years in a Carson neighborhood is being settled the old-fashioned way.

Papa is getting grandfathered.

City and state officials have decided to return the six-foot gator named Papa to pet owner Nelvolia Collins after learning that the reptile was residing in its Ackmar Avenue back yard before state and local anti-alligator laws were enacted.

The action ends a growing protest launched by Carson residents a week ago when an anonymous tipster prompted authorities to seize Papa. Angry neighbors contended that the alligator was more of a friendly mascot than a ferocious man-eater.

Carson City Council members conducted an emergency meeting over the weekend to enact a ordinance that welcomes all alligators that “lived continuously” in town since the city incorporated in 1968.

“We’ve grandfathered him in,” Mayor Vera Robles DeWitt said of the gator. “Given all the circumstances . . . all the calls we received, it wasn’t a hard thing to do.”

Kim Gordon, warden with the state Department of Fish and Game, said Papa is old enough to escape a statewide ban on alligators that went into effect in 1987.

“If its owner can prove she had it before that, it’s grandfathered,” Gordon said.

Papa will remain at the Wildlife Waystation near Lake View Terrace until Collins pays a $25 wildlife permit fee and makes a few changes to the gator’s back-yard pond enclosure. “That doesn’t sound like too much of a problem,” said Gordon.

Collins was hoping for a quick reunion. She said that friends volunteered Monday to help enlarge Papa’s pond and install extra fencing to meet the state’s requirements.

“I’m so happy I’m getting my alligator back. Everybody has been so nice to me,” she said.

“Whoever did this to me by turning Papa in, it was a blessing in disguise. I’ve received so much help and support. That’s what I love about living in Carson.”