Florida Home Ready For N.Y. Gator

By LINDSAY WILKES-EDRINGTON The Tampa Tribune

Published: Jun 21, 2007

TAMPA - When New York authorities called Joe and Laura Paner last week and asked them to take an 8-foot, 170-pound alligator off their hands, the couple didn't hesitate to get in their Honda minivan and head north.

After all, they have dedicated their life to caring for reptiles others couldn't handle. There was no question they should do the same for this one.

"We never turn down the chance to take one," John Paner said.

Although Jojo, as the animal is called, was said to have a decent habitat inside the basement of a Buffalo man's house, he'll likely enjoy his new home in Tampa more.

The alligator spent the past few days in quarantine adjusting to the move, but today will be put into an 80-by 80-foot outdoor pond at Croc Encounters, a reptile sanctuary in east Tampa that the Paners started in 2005.

There, Jojo will live among more than 250 crocodiles, alligators and caimans on the 22-acre property. Most of those started their lives as pets, Pane said.

The Paners got their start rescuing alligators in 2000 while living in Buffalo. They were members of a herpetological society there when they were asked to take in Amos, a 2-year-old American alligator whose owner couldn't handle him anymore.

"Unfortunately, a lot of people just think they look cool," Paner said. "I don't have a problem with it if someone knows how to take good care of them, but most of the time that's not the case."

Because it's illegal in New York to own an alligator, the couple applied for a permit to use Amos for educational purposes. Soon, they began taking him to schools and exhibitions. They had the urge to do something more, though.

In 2005, the Paners quit their jobs at an Internet company and moved to Florida so they could pursue reptile rescues full time.

They purchased property on Bowles Road and started Croc Encounters, where they now have more than 100 alligators living in enclosed outdoor ponds.

"And we've got room for plenty more," Paner said.

Because of their reputation for so readily accepting animals, the Paners receive calls from law enforcement agencies across the nation asking them to take in alligators that have been confiscated.

Because there are 1 million to 2 million alligators in Florida, they're hardly considered a novelty here. Occasionally, they're found being kept illegally as pets, Florida Wildlife and Gaming Commission spokesman Gary Morse said. More often than not, though, they're reported as nuisances. The Florida Wildlife and Game Commission received 21,000 complaints about alligators last year. About half of those were killed for their meat and hides.

When the animals show up in states where they're not indigenous, such as New York, they often got there either because someone bought them illegally or brought them home as vacation souvenirs, Lt. Jeff Jondle of the New York Department of Environmental Conservation said.

"Spring break's a common time because we have a lot of colleges here, and students bring them back with them," Jondle said.

When an alligator is discovered, Jondle said, his department sometimes has trouble figuring out what to do with it. Zoos usually won't accept them because they're worried about introducing diseases to the other animals. Some end up being killed.

Others, he said, are sent off to reptile sanctuaries in Florida, such as Croc Encounters.

On the way to pick up Jojo, the Paners stopped at a shelter in Cincinnati to pick up nearly a dozen other small alligators, which rode in ventilated wooden crates in the back of their vehicle.

"We pack well," Laura Paner said with a laugh. "But one thing we need is a new van. We've put close to 175,000 miles on it making these types of trips."

Reporter Lindsay Wilkes-Edrington can be reached at (813) 259-7621 or lwilkes-edrington @tampatrib.com.