Jacksonville Sheriff's Office
Audio By Carbonatix
Police in Jacksonville, Florida received a tip about a house being used for the sale of drugs. The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office SWAT Team and Narcotics Unit conducted a search on the house and were likely unprepared for the horrors within that included a 9-foot alligator.
In addition to finding “cocaine, oxycodone, and marijuana” inside the home, they also learned that the house was being used for dog fighting. Furthermore, there was a 9-foot alligator being kept inside a small fenced area where they discovered animal bones and determined the alligator was being fed animals from the property.
In a statement, the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office said “while serving the search warrant, our officers noticed there were multiple dogs on the property as well as dog fighting equipment, trophies, and books. Animal control officers thoroughly searched the property, finding more dog fighting paraphernalia.”
They found dogs all throughout the property, chained up, and showing “serious signs of neglect, including being covered in feces, fleas, and infections.” The statement went on to say some of the dogs had open wounds in various stages of healing.
But it didn’t end with the dogs. Officers said they also “found other animals in similar condition, including young raccoons and turtles.”
All of this is absolutely reprehensible, but it was the 9-foot alligator and its living conditions that shocked the officers the most. Their statement says “the alligator had no access to water in the cage; bones scattered on the ground suggested he was being fed the other animals on the property.”
After finding the 9-foot alligator, they called in an FWC officer to safely remove the alligator from the property:
Only one arrest was made. That individual is now facing multiple felonies tied to the guns and narcotics found at the scene. And it remains to be seen what charges will be filed related to the abhorrent animal abuse.
As a born and raised Floridian, a multi-generational Floridian, it sickens me that stuff like this happens in my home state.